Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:16 PM ET

OLLI max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.72
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$75-14.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.25±26.5% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.98151 puts / 154 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3047.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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, Nov 20$80-8.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$85-3.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$82.5-6.0%82d
Fri, Mar 19$90+2.6%145d
Fri, Apr 16$75-14.5%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7540577491108125$1M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot7540607590105120130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OLLI 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

spot754060759010512011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot4057749110812566%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 5040607590105120+$5K−$5K
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
0.95-0.01500.00290.06-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.02600.00540.11-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02650.00700.14-0.02-0.14
0.81-0.02700.00870.17-0.02-0.19
0.76-0.03750.01030.19-0.03-0.25
0.70-0.03800.01180.21-0.03-0.31
0.63-0.03850.01290.23-0.03-0.38
0.57-0.03900.01370.24-0.03-0.45
0.50-0.03950.01390.24-0.03-0.52
0.44-0.031000.01380.24-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.031050.01340.23-0.03-0.65
0.33-0.031100.01260.22-0.03-0.71
0.28-0.031150.01170.20-0.03-0.76
0.24-0.031200.01070.19-0.03-0.81
0.21-0.021250.00980.17-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3565901151501859K0
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

spot3565901151501859K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K 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: OLLI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk