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

OLMA max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.53
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$9+37.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.85±43.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI3.637K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3079.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$37Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$9+37.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$12+83.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$9+37.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$9+37.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$10+53.1%172d
Fri, Jan 21$13+99.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot931017233037$5M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot938131825376K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OLMA 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

spot93813182537452452
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4710141720199%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 43813182537+$36K−$36K
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
0.93-0.0030.03100.00-0.00-0.07
0.88-0.0040.05920.01-0.00-0.12
0.79-0.0150.10220.01-0.01-0.21
0.65-0.0160.14120.01-0.01-0.35
0.51-0.0170.14590.01-0.01-0.49
0.41-0.0180.13090.01-0.01-0.59
0.34-0.0190.11410.01-0.01-0.66
0.29-0.01100.09980.01-0.01-0.71
0.26-0.01110.08830.01-0.01-0.75
0.23-0.01120.07900.01-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01130.07150.01-0.01-0.80
0.19-0.01140.06520.01-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot38131823353K0
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

spot17131927456K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 17K 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: OLMA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk