Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:41 AM ET

OCUL max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.46
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$8+7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.4±72.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.262K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3090.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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$9+20.7%2d
Fri, Nov 20$8+7.3%37d
Fri, Dec 18$9+20.7%65d
Fri, Jan 15$8+7.3%93d
Fri, Mar 19$8+7.3%156d
Fri, Jan 21$8+7.3%464d
Fri, Jan 19$3-59.8%828d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot83814192530$16M$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, Jan 21

spot838121722304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OCUL open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot8381217223011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3814192530130%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 83812172230+$11K−$11K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.0030.01540.01-0.00-0.08
0.93-0.0050.03310.02-0.00-0.17
0.77-0.0080.05430.03-0.00-0.35
0.69-0.00100.05850.03-0.00-0.45
0.62-0.00120.05880.04-0.00-0.53
0.55-0.00150.05680.04-0.00-0.62
0.51-0.00170.05500.04-0.00-0.66
0.46-0.00200.05240.04-0.00-0.72
0.44-0.00220.05070.04-0.00-0.76
0.41-0.00250.04840.03-0.00-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1691215186K0
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

spot1591317228K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41K call contracts, 8K 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: OCUL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk