Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:41 AM ET

NEXT max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.31
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$8+26.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.03±32.1% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI4.062K puts / 611 calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

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$6-4.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$6-4.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$7+10.9%80d
Fri, Apr 16$8+26.8%171d
Fri, Jan 21$5-20.8%451d
Fri, Jan 19$7+10.9%815d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot814691114$1M$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot81471014983983
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NEXT open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot81471014151151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot35710121480%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 61471014+$5K−$5K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99—10.00500.00-0.00-0.01
0.970.0020.01360.00-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0030.03020.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.0040.06090.01-0.00-0.11
0.79-0.0050.10480.01-0.00-0.21
0.65-0.0060.14300.02-0.00-0.36
0.50-0.0070.15640.02-0.00-0.51
0.38-0.0080.14770.02-0.00-0.65
0.28-0.0090.12850.01-0.00-0.75
0.20-0.00100.10690.01-0.00-0.83
0.15-0.00110.08690.01-0.00-0.90
0.11-0.00120.06980.01-0.00-0.95
0.06-0.00140.04450.01-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot14710131660K0
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

spot14710131668K68K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 154K call contracts, 23K 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: NEXT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk