Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:04 AM ET

PDYN max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.61
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$6+66.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.28±35.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.252K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3079.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$5+38.5%30d
Fri, Dec 18$4+10.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$6+66.2%86d
Fri, Apr 16$5+38.5%177d
Fri, Jan 21$5+38.5%457d
Fri, Jan 19$3-16.9%821d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6159121620$8M$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 — 6 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot614710132K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PDYN 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

spot6147101377
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot159121620279%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 31471013+$2K−$2K
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
0.96-0.0010.02460.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.0020.08520.00-0.00-0.09
0.74-0.0030.22710.01-0.00-0.26
0.46-0.0040.28160.01-0.00-0.53
0.28-0.0050.22080.01-0.00-0.71
0.18-0.0060.16070.01-0.00-0.82
0.12-0.0070.11690.00-0.00-0.88
0.08-0.0080.08610.00-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.0090.06430.000.00-0.95
0.04-0.00100.04870.000.00-0.97
0.03-0.00110.03730.00—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1471013203K0
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

spot1471013164K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 5K 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: PDYN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk