Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:24 AM ET

MSFU max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.77
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25-38.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.65±21.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.625K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3064.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$173Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $24

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$40-1.9%26d
Fri, Dec 18$41+0.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$25-38.7%82d
Fri, Apr 16$35-14.2%173d
Fri, Jan 21$25-38.7%453d
Fri, Jan 19$31-24.0%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152433425160$20M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot251523303744511K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSFU 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

spot251523303744515454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152433425160129%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 24152330374451+$50K−$50K
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
0.78-0.02340.02520.06-0.02-0.22
0.75-0.02350.02740.06-0.02-0.25
0.72-0.02360.02940.06-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.02370.03130.07-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.03380.03300.07-0.03-0.35
0.62-0.03390.03440.07-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.03400.03550.07-0.03-0.42
0.55-0.03410.03640.08-0.03-0.46
0.51-0.03420.03680.08-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.03430.03700.08-0.03-0.53
0.44-0.03440.03690.08-0.03-0.56
0.40-0.03450.03640.07-0.03-0.60
0.37-0.02460.03570.07-0.02-0.63
0.34-0.02470.03470.07-0.02-0.66
0.31-0.02480.03350.07-0.02-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1523303744511K0
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

spot1523303744512K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 7K 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: MSFU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk