Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 11:28 PM ET

Q max pain

Spot (delayed)$122.9
Max pain · Fri, May 21$115-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$41.3±33.6% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.474K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3057.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$612Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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, Oct 16$130+5.8%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130+5.8%37d
Fri, Dec 18$145+18.0%65d
Fri, Feb 19$140+13.9%128d
Fri, May 21$115-6.4%219d
Fri, Jan 21$120-2.4%464d
Fri, Jan 19$100-18.6%828d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1156098136174212250$84M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot11560901201501802203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Q open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot115609012015018022055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot609813617421225070%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 656090120150180220+$403K−$403K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.02900.00450.23-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.03950.00500.26-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.031000.00560.29-0.04-0.23
0.74-0.031050.00610.31-0.04-0.27
0.70-0.041100.00650.33-0.04-0.30
0.67-0.041150.00690.35-0.04-0.34
0.63-0.041200.00720.36-0.04-0.38
0.59-0.041250.00740.37-0.04-0.42
0.55-0.041300.00760.38-0.04-0.46
0.52-0.041350.00770.38-0.04-0.49
0.48-0.041400.00770.38-0.04-0.53
0.45-0.041450.00770.38-0.04-0.57
0.42-0.041500.00760.37-0.04-0.60
0.39-0.041550.00750.36-0.04-0.63
0.36-0.041600.00730.35-0.04-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65951251551852307K0
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

spot609012015018022011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K 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: Q workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk