Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 12:52 AM ET

PPTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.9
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20+18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.48±26.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.368K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3062.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$67Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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, Oct 16$22.5+33.1%1d
Fri, Nov 20$20+18.3%36d
Fri, Dec 18$20+18.3%64d
Fri, Jan 15$20+18.3%92d
Fri, Mar 19$25+47.9%155d
Fri, May 21$22.5+33.1%218d
Fri, Aug 20$20+18.3%309d
Fri, Nov 19$25+47.9%400d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2051423324150$44M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20512.52030458K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PPTA 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

spot20512.5203045596596
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101826344250122%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 15512.5203045+$43K−$43K
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
0.99—50.00310.00-0.00-0.01
0.97—7.50.00720.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.00100.01610.01-0.00-0.06
0.88-0.0112.50.03360.02-0.01-0.13
0.75-0.01150.05740.03-0.01-0.26
0.57-0.0117.50.07190.04-0.01-0.43
0.41-0.01200.06970.03-0.01-0.60
0.29-0.0122.50.05900.03-0.01-0.73
0.20-0.01250.04680.03-0.01-0.82
0.10-0.01300.02790.02-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.00350.01650.01-0.00-0.99
0.03-0.00400.01000.01-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00450.00620.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.512.52030455K0
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

spot2.51017.5254012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 16K 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: PPTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk