Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:44 PM ET

MAS max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.01
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$65-14.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.4±12.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.812K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3039.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$261Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$70-7.9%27d
Fri, Dec 18$65-14.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$65-14.5%83d
Fri, Apr 16$80+5.2%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot653551678399115$11M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6535506580951152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MAS open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot65355065809511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot355167839911589%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 653550658095115+$427K−$427K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01400.00180.02-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01450.00280.02-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01500.00440.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01550.00700.05-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.02600.01120.07-0.02-0.10
0.84-0.02650.01770.09-0.02-0.17
0.73-0.02700.02630.12-0.03-0.27
0.58-0.03750.03370.14-0.03-0.43
0.41-0.03800.03440.14-0.03-0.60
0.27-0.02850.02860.12-0.03-0.75
0.18-0.02900.02140.10-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.01950.01530.07-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.011000.01100.06-0.01-0.95
0.06-0.011050.00790.04-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.011150.00430.03-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35506580951153K0
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

spot35506580951103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 3K 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: MAS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk