Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:06 PM ET

MBLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10+52.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.62±24.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4037K puts / 94K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3066.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

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, Oct 30$3-54.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$6.5-1.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$4-39.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$10+52.2%25d
Fri, Nov 27$2-69.6%32d
Fri, Dec 18$7+6.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$10+52.2%81d
Fri, Feb 19$8+21.8%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103916222935$183M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot103813182524K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBLY 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

spot1038131825669669
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3916222935174%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1238131825+$33K−$33K
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
0.98-0.0030.01820.00-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.0040.04900.00-0.00-0.06
0.86-0.0050.11330.01-0.00-0.15
0.69-0.0060.18920.01-0.00-0.32
0.48-0.0070.21050.01-0.01-0.53
0.32-0.0080.18040.01-0.00-0.70
0.21-0.0090.13890.01-0.00-0.81
0.14-0.00100.10350.01-0.00-0.88
0.10-0.00110.07690.01-0.00-0.93
0.07-0.00120.05760.00-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.00130.04370.00-0.00-0.98
0.04-0.00140.03350.000.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot24.56.58.510.512.51K0
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

spot15.5912.5183033K33K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 166K call contracts, 85K 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: MBLY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk