Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:24 AM ET

MANU max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.72
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$17-18.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.6±31.9% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.10147 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3033.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$20-3.5%24d
Fri, Dec 18$20-3.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$20-3.5%80d
Fri, Mar 19$20-3.5%143d
Fri, Jan 21$17-18.0%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot173814192530$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot173813172227918918
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MANU open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot17381317222711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot381419253088%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 1051015202530+$14K−$14K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98—30.00180.01-0.00-0.02
0.96—50.00340.01-0.00-0.03
0.940.0080.00670.03-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.00100.00990.03-0.00-0.08
0.86-0.00130.01670.05-0.00-0.12
0.82-0.00150.02290.06-0.00-0.17
0.76-0.00170.03040.07-0.00-0.23
0.64-0.00200.04090.08-0.00-0.36
0.56-0.00220.04400.09-0.00-0.45
0.45-0.00250.04250.09-0.00-0.57
0.39-0.00270.03960.09-0.00-0.64
0.33-0.00300.03500.08-0.00-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot316202428322K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot312172227329K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 11K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: MANU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk