Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:21 PM ET

PTEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.95
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10-16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.5±20.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.5921K puts / 36K calls
Call wall$9largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3058.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$219Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $9

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$11-7.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$11-7.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$10-16.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$10-16.3%116d
Fri, May 21$13+8.8%207d
Fri, Jan 21$10-16.3%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103710141721$35M$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 15

spot1037101316209K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTEN 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

spot1037101316205252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3610131720176%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 93710131620+$98K−$98K
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
0.97-0.0050.01050.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0060.01670.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0070.02640.01-0.00-0.07
0.91-0.0080.04160.01-0.00-0.10
0.86-0.0190.06340.01-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01100.09060.02-0.01-0.22
0.67-0.01110.11490.02-0.01-0.33
0.54-0.01120.12670.02-0.01-0.46
0.42-0.01130.12350.02-0.01-0.57
0.33-0.01140.11080.02-0.01-0.68
0.25-0.01150.09480.02-0.01-0.75
0.19-0.01160.07910.02-0.01-0.81
0.15-0.01170.06520.01-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.00180.05340.01-0.00-0.89
0.07-0.00200.03590.01-0.00-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot36912151853K0
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

spot261014182254K54K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 159K call contracts, 31K 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: PTEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk