Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:03 AM ET

OUST max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25-15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.4±35.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.329K puts / 29K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV30102.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$291Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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, Oct 30$33+11.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$35+17.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$33+11.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$36+21.2%25d
Fri, Nov 27$30+1.0%32d
Fri, Dec 4$35+17.8%39d
Fri, Dec 18$30+1.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$25-15.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$40+34.7%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2532140587795$149M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25316243240606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OUST 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

spot25316243240605555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot32140587795304%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 92.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 531624324060+$72K−$72K
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
0.79-0.02230.02160.04-0.02-0.21
0.76-0.02240.02330.04-0.02-0.24
0.73-0.03250.02480.05-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.03260.02610.05-0.03-0.30
0.67-0.03270.02730.05-0.03-0.33
0.64-0.03280.02820.05-0.03-0.36
0.61-0.03290.02900.05-0.03-0.39
0.58-0.03300.02950.06-0.03-0.41
0.55-0.03310.02990.06-0.03-0.44
0.52-0.03320.03010.06-0.03-0.47
0.50-0.03330.03010.06-0.03-0.50
0.47-0.03340.03000.06-0.03-0.53
0.45-0.03350.02970.06-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.03360.02940.06-0.03-0.58
0.40-0.03370.02890.06-0.03-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot182832.537.542481K0
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

spot3212835425211K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 37K 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: OUST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk