Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 8:30 PM ET

MTCH max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35-24.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.53±14.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5212K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3045.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$42.5-8.2%30d
Fri, Dec 18$42.5-8.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$35-24.4%86d
Fri, Mar 19$35-24.4%149d
Thu, Jun 17$60+29.6%239d
Fri, Jan 21$37.5-19.0%457d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152433425160$32M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot351522.53037.54552.58K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTCH 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

spot351522.53037.54552.5105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152433425160101%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 401522.53037.54552.5+$550K−$550K
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—300.00480.01-0.00-0.02
0.96—32.50.00810.02-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.00350.01350.03-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.0137.50.02100.04-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01400.03010.06-0.01-0.19
0.72-0.0142.50.03870.07-0.02-0.28
0.61-0.02450.04480.09-0.02-0.39
0.50-0.0247.50.04700.09-0.02-0.51
0.39-0.02500.04520.09-0.02-0.62
0.29-0.0252.50.04050.08-0.01-0.72
0.21-0.01550.03400.07-0.01-0.80
0.10-0.01600.02090.04-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1522.53037.54552.58K0
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

spot15253545558K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 24K 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: MTCH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk