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

PATH max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.82
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12-13.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.43±24.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6593K puts / 143K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3052.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$582Kper 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 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

spot1231017233037$230M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12391419243236K36K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PATH 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

spot1239141924321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31017233037167%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 53914192432+$247K−$247K
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
0.98—70.00960.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0080.01680.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0090.02760.01-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.00100.04200.01-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.01110.05870.02-0.01-0.17
0.75-0.01120.07500.02-0.01-0.25
0.66-0.01130.08760.03-0.01-0.34
0.57-0.01140.09430.03-0.01-0.44
0.48-0.01150.09490.03-0.01-0.53
0.39-0.01160.09070.03-0.01-0.61
0.32-0.01170.08360.02-0.01-0.69
0.27-0.01180.07500.02-0.01-0.75
0.22-0.01190.06610.02-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.01200.05760.02-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.01210.04990.01-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 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