Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:42 AM ET

ONC max pain

Spot (delayed)$377.63
Max pain · Fri, May 21$390+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$85.55±22.7% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.6651 puts / 77 calls
Call wall$460largest call OI
Put wall$390largest put OI
IV3038.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $390

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$350-7.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$340-10.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$360-4.7%116d
Fri, May 21$390+3.3%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot390220284348412476540$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 — 390 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot3902203503904204502525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ONC open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot39022035039042045099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot22028434841247654039%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 390220350390420450+$11K−$11K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.012200.00040.14-0.01-0.02
0.82-0.063100.00240.74-0.07-0.18
0.76-0.083300.00290.89-0.08-0.24
0.69-0.093500.00331.01-0.09-0.32
0.66-0.093600.00341.05-0.10-0.35
0.59-0.103800.00361.12-0.10-0.43
0.55-0.103900.00371.13-0.11-0.47
0.52-0.104000.00371.14-0.11-0.51
0.48-0.104100.00371.14-0.11-0.54
0.45-0.104200.00371.13-0.11-0.58
0.42-0.104300.00361.12-0.11-0.61
0.39-0.104400.00351.10-0.11-0.65
0.36-0.104500.00341.07-0.10-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1852803404004605402790
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

spot155195270350430510283283
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 634 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: ONC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk