Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:02 AM ET

PTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$193.81
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$120-38.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.3±2.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.163K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV302.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$190-2.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$190-2.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$120-38.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$190-2.0%172d
Fri, Dec 17$190-2.0%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206090120150180210$50M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12060901151401651907K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTC 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

spot12060901151401651901010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot15516617718819921023%4%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 5.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 12075100125155175195+$13.0M−$13.0M
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
0.98-0.001600.00210.04-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.001650.00290.05-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.011700.00410.06-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.011750.00610.08-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.011800.00970.10-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.011850.01740.14-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.011900.03810.21-0.01-0.15
0.66-0.011950.13470.35-0.02-0.83
0.13-0.002000.06280.22—-1.00
0.03-0.002100.01010.08—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601001301601902409K0
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

spot609513016520027013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 17K 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: PTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk