Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:17 AM ET

MHO max pain

Spot (delayed)$126.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$110-12.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.5±13.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.14125 puts / 887 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3037.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$167Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

Event risk before this expiration: 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$110-12.8%23d
Fri, Dec 18$115-8.9%51d
Fri, Jan 15$110-12.8%79d
Fri, Apr 16$125-0.9%170d
Fri, May 21$130+3.0%205d
Thu, Jun 17$115-8.9%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11080108136164192220$7M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11080105125150175210803803
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MHO 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

spot1108010512515017521011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8010813616419222071%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 11080105125150175210+$182K−$182K
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
0.93-0.02900.00420.08-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.03950.00550.10-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.031000.00710.12-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.031050.00920.14-0.04-0.15
0.80-0.041100.01180.17-0.04-0.20
0.73-0.041150.01460.19-0.04-0.26
0.65-0.051200.01710.22-0.05-0.34
0.56-0.051250.01870.23-0.05-0.44
0.47-0.051300.01900.23-0.05-0.53
0.31-0.051400.01620.21-0.05-0.69
0.25-0.041450.01420.19-0.04-0.76
0.20-0.041500.01210.17-0.04-0.81
0.13-0.031600.00870.13-0.03-0.88
0.11-0.031650.00740.11-0.03-0.90
0.09-0.031700.00620.10-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801101301501701908280
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

spot7095120145170195828828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 761 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: MHO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk