Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:18 PM ET

MEDP max pain

Spot (delayed)$676.77
Max pain · Fri, May 21$640-5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$178.65±26.4% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.8467 puts / 80 calls
Call wall$640largest call OI
Put wall$640largest put OI
IV3031.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $630

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$650-4.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$570-15.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$660-2.5%81d
Fri, Mar 19$590-12.8%144d
Fri, May 21$640-5.4%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot640510574638702766830$2M$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 — 640 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot6405106006306606905454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MEDP open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot64051060063066069044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot51057463870276683047%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 630510600630660690+$4K−$4K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.186100.00151.75-0.19-0.30
0.69-0.186200.00151.79-0.20-0.31
0.68-0.186300.00161.83-0.20-0.33
0.66-0.196400.00161.87-0.20-0.35
0.65-0.196500.00161.90-0.21-0.36
0.63-0.206600.00171.93-0.21-0.38
0.61-0.206700.00171.96-0.21-0.40
0.59-0.206800.00171.98-0.21-0.42
0.58-0.206900.00172.00-0.21-0.44
0.56-0.207000.00182.01-0.22-0.46
0.35-0.198300.00171.89-0.20-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2804005206207208203830
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

spot2003304605907208501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: MEDP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk