Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 4:02 PM ET

NUAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.05
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$4+31.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.5±49.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.077K puts / 93K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV30147.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$113Kper 1% move

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 30$4.5+47.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$5+64.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$4.5+47.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$4+31.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$5+64.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$3-1.5%39d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-17.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$4+31.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$4+31.4%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot413691215$78M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40.523.551023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NUAI 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

spot40.523.5510250250
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13691215472%133%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 135.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.523.5510+$34K−$34K
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
0.97-0.000.50.01510.00-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0010.03860.00-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.001.50.07470.00-0.00-0.10
0.82-0.0020.12190.00-0.00-0.17
0.73-0.002.50.16460.01-0.00-0.26
0.63-0.0130.18720.01-0.00-0.36
0.54-0.013.50.19200.01-0.01-0.44
0.47-0.0140.18740.01-0.01-0.51
0.41-0.014.50.17870.01-0.01-0.57
0.37-0.0150.16860.01-0.01-0.62
0.33-0.015.50.15820.01-0.01-0.66
0.22-0.007.50.12220.00-0.00-0.77
0.15-0.00100.09080.00-0.00-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.510.55K0
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

spot0.535.5810.51463K63K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 300K call contracts, 61K 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: NUAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk