Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:45 PM ET

PAA max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$22-17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.18±8.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2018K puts / 94K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3021.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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$24-10.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$23-13.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$24.5-8.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$22-17.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$24-10.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$24-10.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$25-6.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$22-17.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$24-10.1%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot223916222935$65M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2231321252932K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAA 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

spot22313212529718718
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13172226313566%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2281521242730+$2.4M−$2.4M
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
1.000.00200.00400.00-0.00-0.04
0.99-0.00210.01270.00-0.00-0.06
0.98-0.00220.03480.00-0.00-0.08
0.94-0.01230.07880.01-0.00-0.12
0.86-0.01240.13280.03-0.00-0.18
0.73-0.01250.14700.04-0.01-0.28
0.59-0.01260.15530.05-0.01-0.42
0.43-0.01270.15560.05-0.01-0.59
0.30-0.01280.13200.04-0.01-0.73
0.21-0.01290.10240.04-0.01-0.83
0.15-0.00300.07690.03-0.01-0.90
0.03-0.00350.01920.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 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

spot1417212425.5274210
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

spot31620.52427.53145K45K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 211K call contracts, 35K 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: PAA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk