Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:27 PM ET

PFG max pain

Spot (delayed)$108.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$100-7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.8±10.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2194 puts / 442 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3028.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$96Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$110+1.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$115+6.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$100-7.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$110+1.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100607896114132150$2M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot100608095110125140106106
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PFG 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

spot10060809511012514022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot65829911613315099%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 95608095110125140+$29K−$29K
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
0.98-0.01700.00220.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01800.00470.05-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.02850.00680.07-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.02900.00990.09-0.02-0.11
0.85-0.03950.01420.12-0.03-0.16
0.78-0.031000.01980.15-0.03-0.23
0.67-0.031050.02590.18-0.03-0.34
0.53-0.031100.03020.20-0.03-0.48
0.38-0.031150.02960.20-0.03-0.63
0.26-0.031200.02460.17-0.03-0.76
0.17-0.021250.01870.13-0.02-0.84
0.12-0.021300.01370.10-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.011350.01010.08-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.011400.00760.07-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.011450.00580.05-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851001151301451602380
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

spot5075100125150175323323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 992 call contracts, 617 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: PFG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk