Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:18 AM ET

QS max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.02
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5+24.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1±24.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2362K puts / 275K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3071.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$220Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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 30$4-0.5%5d
Fri, Nov 6$4-0.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$0.5-87.6%19d
Fri, Nov 20$4-0.5%26d
Fri, Nov 27$0.5-87.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$0.5-87.6%40d
Fri, Dec 18$5+24.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$5+24.4%82d
Fri, Feb 19$5+24.4%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot51815233037$652M$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 15

spot515915253537K37K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QS 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

spot5159152535577577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1815233037204%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3159152535+$60K−$60K
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
0.99-0.0010.01220.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0020.04650.00-0.00-0.04
0.87-0.0030.16370.00-0.00-0.14
0.59-0.0040.28860.01-0.00-0.41
0.36-0.0050.25540.01-0.00-0.66
0.23-0.0060.18600.01-0.00-0.79
0.16-0.0070.13640.01-0.00-0.86
0.12-0.0080.10520.00-0.00-0.90
0.10-0.0090.08480.00-0.00-0.93
0.09-0.00100.07070.00-0.00-0.94
0.07-0.00110.06050.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.55K0
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

spot0.53.56.59.5153093K93K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 560K call contracts, 132K 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: QS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk