Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:04 AM ET

PENG max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.19
Max pain · Fri, May 21$50-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.7±53.0% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.20301 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3090.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$60+10.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$60+10.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40-26.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$60+10.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$65+19.9%172d
Fri, May 21$50-7.7%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5023446687109130$10M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot5022.5406080100120743743
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PENG open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot5022.5406080100120144144
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot23446687109130106%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 5022.5406080100120+$21K−$21K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0122.50.00290.05-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.01250.00360.06-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.02300.00510.08-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.02350.00650.10-0.02-0.16
0.79-0.02400.00780.12-0.03-0.21
0.74-0.03450.00900.13-0.03-0.27
0.69-0.03500.00980.14-0.03-0.32
0.64-0.03550.01040.15-0.03-0.37
0.59-0.03600.01080.16-0.03-0.43
0.54-0.03650.01110.16-0.04-0.47
0.49-0.03700.01110.16-0.04-0.52
0.45-0.03750.01100.16-0.04-0.56
0.42-0.03800.01090.16-0.04-0.60
0.38-0.03850.01060.15-0.03-0.64
0.35-0.03900.01030.15-0.03-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.517.540701001306K0
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

spot2.517.540701001308K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 37K 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: PENG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk