Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:41 AM ET

QFIN max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.69
Max pain · Fri, Jan 19$5-12.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.55±62.4% by Fri, Jan 19
Put/Call OI0.16254 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3056.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$5-12.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5+31.8%51d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5+31.8%114d
Fri, May 21$7.5+31.8%205d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5+31.8%450d
Fri, Jan 19$5-12.1%814d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5358101315$2M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot52.557.51012.5151K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QFIN 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

spot52.557.51012.5151010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot358101315151%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 19

spot2.557.51012.515+$4K−$4K
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
1.00—2.50.00840.00-0.00-0.14
0.81-0.0050.10720.02-0.00-0.38
0.62-0.007.50.12160.03-0.00-0.56
0.52-0.00100.11450.030.00-0.65
0.46-0.0012.50.10610.020.00-0.71
0.42-0.00150.09880.02—-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.52540558K0
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

spot2.51017.525405510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 7K 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: QFIN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk