Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 8:19 PM ET

OKLO max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$42+51.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.98±28.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5364K puts / 120K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV3079.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$165Kper 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 23$29+4.7%2d
Fri, Oct 30$32+15.5%9d
Fri, Nov 6$32+15.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$32+15.5%23d
Fri, Nov 20$40+44.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$34+22.7%37d
Fri, Dec 18$45+62.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$42+51.6%86d
Fri, Mar 19$45+62.5%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42354106157209260$1.8B$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot422.5275510515521013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OKLO 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

spot422.52755105155210517517
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot354106157209260264%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot53060110160220+$166K−$166K
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
0.99—100.00160.00-0.00-0.01
0.98—12.50.00400.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00150.00800.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0117.50.01380.02-0.01-0.08
0.86-0.01200.02100.03-0.01-0.14
0.78-0.0122.50.02830.04-0.02-0.22
0.69-0.02250.03420.05-0.02-0.31
0.62-0.02270.03740.05-0.02-0.39
0.50-0.02300.03900.05-0.02-0.50
0.44-0.02320.03820.05-0.02-0.57
0.35-0.02350.03540.05-0.02-0.66
0.30-0.02370.03290.05-0.02-0.71
0.24-0.02400.02870.04-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.02420.02600.04-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01450.02230.03-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2025.530.535.540.5494K0
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

spot2.527387012519539K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 454K call contracts, 235K 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: OKLO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk