Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 1:21 AM ET

NICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$111
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$85-23.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$58.75±52.9% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.9120 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3057.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$726per 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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, Oct 16$110-0.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$90-18.9%36d
Fri, Jan 15$140+26.1%92d
Fri, Feb 19$125+12.6%127d
Fri, May 21$95-14.4%218d
Fri, Jan 21$110-0.9%463d
Fri, Dec 15$100-9.9%792d
Fri, Jan 19$85-23.4%827d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot858091102113124135$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot8580851201251351717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NICE open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 19.

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 19

spot85808512012513511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot809110211312413547%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spotflip 1258085120125135+$931−$931
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.01800.00310.41-0.01-0.17
0.82-0.01850.00340.45-0.01-0.20
0.66-0.011200.00480.62-0.02-0.39
0.64-0.011250.00500.63-0.02-0.42
0.59-0.011350.00520.65-0.02-0.48

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

spot458011515018524010K0
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

spot458011515018524010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 15K 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: NICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk