Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:03 PM ET

MLCO max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.77
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5+32.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.88±23.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.153K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3051.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$4+6.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$4+6.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$5+32.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$4+6.1%172d
Fri, Jan 21$3-20.4%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot514791215$16M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5135791212K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MLCO 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

spot513579122121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot257101215202%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 524681015+$21K−$21K
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
0.97-0.0010.02020.00-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0020.06770.00-0.00-0.10
0.80-0.0030.19230.01-0.00-0.21
0.49-0.0040.41920.01-0.00-0.53
0.23-0.0050.27240.01-0.00-0.80
0.15-0.0060.16950.00-0.00-0.89
0.11-0.0070.11820.00-0.00-0.94
0.08-0.0080.08860.00-0.00-0.96
0.07-0.0090.06970.00-0.00-0.98
0.05-0.00100.05660.00-0.00-0.99
0.04-0.00120.04000.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot135791212K0
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

spot147101517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 5K 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: MLCO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk