Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:02 AM ET

OMER max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7-57.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±26.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.152K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3078.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$117Kper 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$16-3.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$10-39.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$7-57.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$18+8.6%116d
Fri, May 21$18+8.6%207d
Fri, Jan 21$12-27.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot71815212835$20M$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot717131925322K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OMER 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

spot717131925324040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1815212835274%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 41713192532+$27K−$27K
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
0.91-0.01100.02110.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01110.02770.01-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.01120.03560.02-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01130.04470.02-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.01140.05400.03-0.01-0.25
0.69-0.01150.06220.03-0.01-0.32
0.62-0.01160.06820.03-0.01-0.39
0.55-0.01170.07130.03-0.01-0.46
0.48-0.01180.07170.03-0.01-0.53
0.42-0.01190.06990.03-0.01-0.59
0.36-0.01200.06650.03-0.01-0.65
0.31-0.01210.06210.03-0.01-0.70
0.27-0.01220.05730.03-0.01-0.74
0.23-0.01230.05240.02-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01240.04750.02-0.01-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17131925324K0
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

spot17131925319K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 22K 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: OMER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk