Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:49 PM ET

NTAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$145-36.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.4±20.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.146K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3054.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$772Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Event risk before this expiration: 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$200-12.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$195-14.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$145-36.2%79d
Fri, Mar 19$200-12.0%142d
Thu, Jun 17$200-12.0%232d
Fri, Sep 17$240+5.6%324d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14540102164226288350$90M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14540801201602002802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTAP 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

spot145408012016020028055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40102164226288350191%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 18085120155190250320+$136K−$136K
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
0.85-0.081800.00380.25-0.09-0.15
0.83-0.091850.00430.27-0.10-0.18
0.80-0.101900.00470.30-0.11-0.20
0.77-0.111950.00500.32-0.12-0.23
0.74-0.122000.00540.34-0.12-0.26
0.68-0.132100.00600.38-0.14-0.32
0.61-0.142200.00640.40-0.14-0.39
0.55-0.152300.00670.42-0.15-0.46
0.48-0.152400.00670.42-0.15-0.52
0.42-0.142500.00660.41-0.14-0.58
0.36-0.142600.00630.40-0.14-0.64
0.31-0.132700.00600.37-0.13-0.70
0.26-0.122800.00550.34-0.12-0.75
0.22-0.112900.00500.32-0.11-0.79
0.18-0.103000.00450.28-0.10-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801201602002803K0
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

spot40851301752403303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 21K 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: NTAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk