Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:22 PM ET

PENN max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.41
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15+4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.7±18.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.457K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3057.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$61Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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, Nov 20$15+4.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$16+11.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+4.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$16+11.0%172d
Fri, Jan 21$20+38.8%452d
Fri, Jan 19$15+4.1%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1531017243138$26M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152.511162127.537.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PENN 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

spot152.511162127.537.5195195
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31017243138173%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.5512.517.522.530+$28K−$28K
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
1.000.002.50.00080.000.00-0.00
0.99-0.0050.00350.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.007.50.01160.01-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.00100.03400.01-0.00-0.09
0.88-0.01110.04960.01-0.01-0.13
0.78-0.0112.50.07930.02-0.01-0.23
0.63-0.01140.10630.03-0.01-0.38
0.52-0.01150.11470.03-0.01-0.50
0.41-0.01160.11290.03-0.01-0.61
0.28-0.0117.50.09610.02-0.01-0.75
0.18-0.01190.07380.02-0.01-0.86
0.14-0.01200.06000.01-0.01-0.91
0.10-0.00210.04820.01-0.01-0.95
0.07-0.0022.50.03440.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51216202537.52K0
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

spot2.59141924324K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 15K 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: PENN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk