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

PLTU max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.96
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$50-18.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$67.6±110.9% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.8454 puts / 64 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
IV30129.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$236per 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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

spot503044587286100$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot503038415465903636
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLTU open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 19.

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 19

spot503038415465902020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot3044587286100114%110%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 113.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spotflip 653038455570100+$268−$268
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.01390.00220.19-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01400.00230.19-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.01410.00230.19-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01450.00240.20-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.01500.00260.22-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.01540.00260.23-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01550.00270.23-0.01-0.18
0.77-0.01600.00280.24-0.01-0.19
0.75-0.01650.00280.25-0.01-0.21
0.74-0.01700.00290.26-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02750.00300.27-0.02-0.23
0.69-0.02900.00320.28-0.02-0.27
0.67-0.021000.00330.29-0.02-0.30

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 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