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

PTIR max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.02
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$10-56.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.35±105.8% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.0126 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$21largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV30125.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$20-13.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$22-4.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$13.45-41.6%81d
Fri, Apr 16$21-8.8%172d
Fri, Jan 21$13.45-41.6%452d
Fri, Jan 19$10-56.6%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1051117232935$3M$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 19

spot1051014182226287287
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTIR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 19.

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 19

spot10510141822266868
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot51117232935120%98%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spotflip 751014182226+$1K−$1K
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 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.00160.00680.08-0.00-0.14
0.81-0.00170.00690.08-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.00180.00710.08-0.01-0.16
0.79-0.00190.00730.08-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01200.00740.09-0.01-0.18
0.77-0.01210.00750.09-0.01-0.19
0.77-0.01220.00770.09-0.01-0.20
0.76-0.01230.00780.09-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.01240.00790.10-0.01-0.21
0.74-0.01250.00800.10-0.01-0.22
0.74-0.01260.00810.10-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01270.00820.10-0.01-0.23
0.71-0.01300.00840.10-0.01-0.25
0.69-0.01350.00870.11-0.01-0.29

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11319.4525.453240.451K0
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

spot11319.4525.4531.4538.452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 8K 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: PTIR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk