Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:01 AM ET

PSNY max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.77
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$10+165.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.1±108.8% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI2.56527 puts / 206 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30115.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$208per 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$5+32.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$4+6.1%58d
Fri, Jan 15$7+85.7%86d
Fri, Apr 16$6+59.2%177d
Fri, Jan 21$10+165.3%457d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot101815212835$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot101410172532213213
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PSNY open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot10141017253299
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1815212835214%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 143.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1410172532+$129−$129
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.0010.03390.00-0.00-0.05
0.82-0.0020.05780.01-0.00-0.12
0.71-0.0030.07590.01-0.00-0.20
0.63-0.0040.08260.01-0.00-0.28
0.56-0.0050.08180.01-0.00-0.33
0.48-0.0080.07170.01-0.00-0.42
0.45-0.00100.06630.01-0.00-0.45
0.43-0.00130.06060.01-0.00-0.48
0.42-0.00150.05790.01-0.00-0.49
0.42-0.00170.05570.01-0.00-0.50
0.41-0.00200.05300.01-0.00-0.52

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot16111824302340
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

spot1713192532422422
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K 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: PSNY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk