Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:11 AM ET

PGEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.22
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$5-19.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.83±61.5% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.06115 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV3078.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $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$6-3.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$7+12.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$4-35.7%82d
Fri, Apr 16$5-19.6%173d
Fri, Jan 21$3.5-43.7%453d
Fri, Jan 19$7+12.5%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot546891113$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot546810121K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PGEN open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot5468101211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot46891113147%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 116.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 54681012+$3K−$3K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.0040.05490.01-0.00-0.15
0.78-0.0050.08570.01-0.00-0.24
0.67-0.0060.11080.02-0.00-0.35
0.56-0.0070.11780.02-0.00-0.47
0.47-0.0080.11330.02-0.00-0.56
0.40-0.0090.10520.02-0.00-0.63
0.35-0.00100.09660.02-0.00-0.68
0.31-0.00110.08860.01-0.00-0.73
0.28-0.00120.08150.01-0.00-0.77
0.25-0.00130.07510.01-0.00-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.57101723K0
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

spot0.52.54.57101424K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 64K 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: PGEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk