Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 7:12 AM ET

PAYO max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.13
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5-29.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.31±4.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.08454 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3018.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$6-15.8%23d
Fri, Dec 18$5-29.9%51d
Fri, Jan 15$5-29.9%79d
Fri, Feb 19$7-1.8%114d
Fri, May 21$8+12.2%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5269131620$7M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot525812202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAYO 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

spot5258122055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3610131720197%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2581220+$48K−$48K
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
1.00-0.0020.00580.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0030.02140.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.0040.04670.00-0.00-0.04
0.96-0.0050.09720.00-0.00-0.07
0.90-0.0060.23960.01-0.00-0.13
0.58-0.0070.75060.01-0.00-0.43
0.17-0.0080.28920.01-0.00-0.81
0.09-0.0090.13360.01-0.00-0.89
0.06-0.00100.08010.00-0.00-0.92
0.04-0.00120.04040.000.00-0.94
0.02-0.00150.02100.000.00-0.96
0.02-0.00170.01530.00—-0.97
0.01-0.00200.01050.00—-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot257912173K0
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

spot1471013173K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 602 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: PAYO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk