Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:10 AM ET

OZK max pain

Spot (delayed)$45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$40-11.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.15±24.8% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI5.766K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3029.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$196Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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 16$45+0.0%2d
Fri, Nov 20$47.5+5.6%37d
Fri, Jan 15$50+11.1%93d
Fri, Feb 19$50+11.1%128d
Fri, May 21$45+0.0%219d
Fri, Aug 20$42.5-5.6%310d
Fri, Jan 21$40-11.1%464d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40233242516170$9M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot4022.532.542.552.562.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OZK open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot4022.532.542.552.562.522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot23324251617054%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 3522.532.542.552.562.5+$115K−$115K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.0027.50.00840.07-0.00-0.10
0.91-0.00300.01100.08-0.00-0.12
0.87-0.0032.50.01380.10-0.00-0.15
0.83-0.00350.01700.12-0.00-0.19
0.78-0.0037.50.02030.14-0.01-0.24
0.72-0.00400.02350.16-0.01-0.30
0.65-0.0142.50.02640.18-0.01-0.36
0.58-0.01450.02870.19-0.01-0.43
0.51-0.0147.50.03020.19-0.01-0.50
0.44-0.01500.03060.19-0.01-0.57
0.38-0.0152.50.03000.18-0.00-0.65
0.31-0.00550.02840.17-0.00-0.71
0.26-0.0057.50.02620.16-0.00-0.77
0.21-0.00600.02350.14-0.00-0.83
0.18-0.0062.50.02080.13-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot203542.55057.5702K0
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

spot2030405060757K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 21K 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: OZK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk