Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:19 PM ET

OSIS max pain

Spot (delayed)$197.48
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$185-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.05±16.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0142 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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$195-1.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$200+1.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$185-6.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$195-1.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot185110152194236278320$61M$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1851101701902202703102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OSIS 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

spot18511017019022027031011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11015219423627832069%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 140110170190220270310+$844K−$844K
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
0.92-0.041500.00340.15-0.04-0.09
0.87-0.051600.00490.20-0.06-0.13
0.81-0.071700.00650.26-0.07-0.19
0.77-0.071750.00740.29-0.07-0.23
0.73-0.081800.00820.31-0.08-0.27
0.69-0.081850.00890.34-0.09-0.32
0.64-0.091900.00950.36-0.09-0.37
0.59-0.091950.00990.37-0.09-0.42
0.54-0.092000.01020.38-0.10-0.47
0.44-0.092100.01020.38-0.10-0.57
0.35-0.092200.00960.35-0.09-0.67
0.27-0.082300.00850.32-0.08-0.75
0.21-0.072400.00730.27-0.07-0.82
0.16-0.062500.00600.23-0.07-0.88
0.09-0.042700.00400.16-0.05-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101752102703304302K0
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 226 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: OSIS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk