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

PRAX max pain

Spot (delayed)$252.96
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$350+38.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$127.95±50.6% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.5523 puts / 42 calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3092.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

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$290+14.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$320+26.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$300+18.6%82d
Fri, Feb 19$240-5.1%117d
Fri, May 21$200-20.9%208d
Thu, Jun 17$350+38.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350250310370430490550$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot3502503003504005001111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PRAX open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot35025030035040050011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot25031037043049055082%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot250300350400500+$2K−$2K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.65-0.122500.00220.75-0.13-0.35
0.60-0.132700.00230.78-0.13-0.40
0.58-0.132800.00240.79-0.14-0.42
0.56-0.132900.00240.80-0.14-0.45
0.54-0.133000.00240.81-0.14-0.47
0.52-0.133100.00250.81-0.14-0.49
0.50-0.133200.00250.81-0.14-0.51
0.46-0.133400.00250.81-0.13-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851552002903704501K0
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

spot851401953004105302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: PRAX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk