Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 3:22 AM ET

ODFL max pain

Spot (delayed)$181.91
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$185+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.9±19.2% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.62250 puts / 154 calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$24Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$180-1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$175-3.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$200+9.9%66d
Fri, Jan 15$185+1.7%94d
Fri, Apr 16$185+1.7%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot185100142184226268310$2M$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1851001351601852207878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ODFL 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

spot18510013516018522088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot10014218422626831052%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot100135160185220+$20K−$20K
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
0.85-0.021450.00470.30-0.03-0.15
0.83-0.031500.00530.33-0.03-0.18
0.80-0.031550.00600.37-0.04-0.21
0.76-0.041600.00660.40-0.04-0.24
0.72-0.041650.00730.43-0.04-0.28
0.68-0.041700.00780.46-0.04-0.32
0.64-0.041750.00830.48-0.04-0.37
0.60-0.041800.00870.50-0.05-0.41
0.56-0.041850.00900.51-0.05-0.46
0.51-0.041900.00910.52-0.05-0.51
0.47-0.041950.00920.52-0.05-0.55
0.42-0.042000.00910.51-0.05-0.60
0.34-0.042100.00860.48-0.04-0.69
0.28-0.042200.00780.43-0.04-0.77
0.22-0.032300.00680.38-0.03-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701151501852403105680
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

spot65105145185250330992992
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: ODFL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk