Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:25 AM ET

PLTU max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.96
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$42-31.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.05±57.5% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.0578 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV30129.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$56-8.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$56-8.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$30-50.8%82d
Fri, Apr 16$42-31.1%173d
Fri, Jan 21$36-40.9%453d
Fri, Jan 19$50-18.0%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot422439547085100$6M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot42243646556385717717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLTU 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

spot4224364655638511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot2439547085100121%105%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 108.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 35243646556385+$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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.69-0.04540.00750.14-0.04-0.29
0.68-0.05550.00760.14-0.04-0.30
0.67-0.05560.00770.15-0.04-0.31
0.66-0.05570.00780.15-0.05-0.31
0.66-0.05580.00780.15-0.05-0.32
0.65-0.05590.00790.15-0.05-0.33
0.64-0.05600.00800.15-0.05-0.34
0.63-0.05610.00810.15-0.05-0.35
0.62-0.05620.00810.15-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.05630.00820.16-0.05-0.36
0.61-0.05640.00820.16-0.05-0.37
0.60-0.05650.00830.16-0.05-0.38
0.59-0.05660.00830.16-0.05-0.39
0.56-0.05700.00850.16-0.05-0.42
0.53-0.05740.00860.16-0.05-0.45

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1430405060808790
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

spot142638506274879879
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: PLTU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk