Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 11:58 PM ET

PCRX max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.34
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$30-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45±4.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.25303 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$37.5largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3021.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$205Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$35-3.7%34d
Fri, Jan 15$30-17.4%90d
Fri, Feb 19$35-3.7%125d
Fri, May 21$35-3.7%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3051219263340$1M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3051522.53037.5916916
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PCRX 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

spot3051522.53037.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot28303335384029%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 9.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 151017.52532.540+$241K−$241K
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
1.000.00200.00090.00-0.00-0.01
1.000.0022.50.00180.00-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.00250.00390.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0027.50.00860.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.00300.01970.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0032.50.04890.01-0.00-0.05
0.86-0.00350.19190.04-0.00-0.14
0.21-0.0037.50.20090.05-0.00-0.78
0.08-0.00400.06170.03-0.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot512.522.527.532.537.52K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.542.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: PCRX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk