Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 8:26 PM ET

PR max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$16-35.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.63±14.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4312K puts / 28K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3042.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$857Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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$22-11.4%30d
Fri, Dec 18$25+0.6%58d
Fri, Jan 15$16-35.6%86d
Fri, Mar 19$22-11.4%149d
Fri, Apr 16$20-19.5%177d
Fri, May 21$22-11.4%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1651015212631$27M$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16513172125299K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PR 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

spot16513172125299191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81317222631147%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 851317212529+$477K−$477K
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
0.94-0.00180.02210.01-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01190.03010.02-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01200.04020.02-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01210.05180.03-0.01-0.18
0.77-0.01220.06400.04-0.01-0.24
0.69-0.01230.07470.04-0.01-0.31
0.61-0.01240.08230.05-0.01-0.39
0.53-0.01250.08570.05-0.01-0.48
0.44-0.01260.08470.05-0.01-0.56
0.37-0.01270.08020.04-0.01-0.64
0.30-0.01280.07340.04-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.01290.06520.04-0.01-0.76
0.19-0.01300.05670.03-0.01-0.81
0.15-0.01310.04850.03-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5151923273110K0
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

spot3131823283312K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K 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: PR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk