Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:44 AM ET

PATH max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.82
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$13.5-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.03±7.5% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.294K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$14.5largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3052.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$538Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$13-5.9%today
Fri, Oct 30$13.5-2.3%7d
Fri, Nov 6$13-5.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$14+1.3%21d
Fri, Nov 20$13.5-2.3%28d
Fri, Nov 27$12.5-9.6%35d
Fri, Dec 18$13-5.9%56d
Fri, Jan 15$12-13.2%84d
Fri, Feb 19$17+23.0%119d
Fri, Mar 19$12-13.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13.55913162024$12M$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 — 13.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot13.559.512.515.518.5245K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PATH open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot13.559.512.515.518.5242K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot81114182124217%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 8.58.51113151719+$312K−$312K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.50.01700.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00110.02960.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.0111.50.05130.00-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01120.08790.00-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.0212.50.14510.00-0.02-0.12
0.80-0.02130.22250.01-0.02-0.20
0.67-0.0313.50.30110.01-0.03-0.33
0.51-0.03140.34110.01-0.03-0.50
0.34-0.0314.50.31580.01-0.03-0.66
0.21-0.02150.24550.01-0.02-0.79
0.13-0.0115.50.16930.00-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.01160.10920.00-0.01-0.93
0.04-0.0116.50.06830.00-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.00170.04240.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.0017.50.02640.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot59.512.515.518.521.512K0
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

spot39.513.517.521.53062K62K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 381K call contracts, 187K 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: PATH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk