Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 12:54 AM ET

PAGP max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.31
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.98±7.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.227K puts / 35K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3019.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$25-8.5%31d
Fri, Dec 18$26-4.8%59d
Fri, Jan 15$25-8.5%87d
Fri, Feb 19$25-8.5%122d
Fri, May 21$26-4.8%213d
Fri, Jan 21$22-19.4%458d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25101520253035$32M$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

spot2510182124273016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAGP 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

spot251018212427302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15192327313557%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 25101922252831+$1.7M−$1.7M
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
1.00—200.00020.01-0.00-0.02
1.00—210.00110.00-0.00-0.03
1.00—220.00510.00-0.00-0.05
0.990.00230.02050.00-0.00-0.08
0.96-0.00240.06570.01-0.00-0.13
0.87-0.01250.14370.03-0.00-0.20
0.71-0.01260.18240.04-0.01-0.32
0.53-0.01270.16680.05-0.01-0.48
0.37-0.01280.15090.05-0.01-0.64
0.25-0.01290.12280.04-0.01-0.77
0.16-0.00300.09140.03-0.00-0.86
0.11-0.00310.06520.03-0.00-0.92
0.02-0.00350.01600.01—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15202326293232K0
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

spot3152025303544K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 123K 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: PAGP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk