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

PTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$193.81
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$190-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.98±3.6% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.746K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV302.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$494Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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

spot19080110140170200230$54M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot190801051301551802103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot1908010513015518021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot15016618219821423021%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 5.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 15080105130155180210+$1.7M−$1.7M
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.001600.00320.11-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.001650.00410.13-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.001700.00550.15-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.011750.00760.18-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.011800.01100.22-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.011850.01700.27-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.011900.02890.35-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.011950.05880.47-0.01-0.57
0.32-0.002000.09590.49-0.01-1.00
0.06-0.002100.01670.19-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.002200.00620.11-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.002300.00320.07-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 28 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