Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:40 AM ET

QURE max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.66
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25+10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.3±36.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2013K puts / 68K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV30107.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$284Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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$26+14.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$35+54.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$25+10.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$40+76.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25121416080100$251M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2511323334357.515K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QURE 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

spot2511323334357.54040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot121416080100358%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 211424344460+$62K−$62K
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
0.83-0.02160.02230.03-0.02-0.17
0.80-0.02170.02540.03-0.02-0.20
0.77-0.02180.02830.03-0.02-0.24
0.73-0.02190.03110.04-0.02-0.27
0.69-0.02200.03360.04-0.02-0.31
0.66-0.02210.03570.04-0.02-0.35
0.62-0.02220.03730.04-0.02-0.39
0.58-0.02230.03840.04-0.02-0.42
0.54-0.02240.03900.04-0.02-0.46
0.51-0.02250.03920.04-0.02-0.50
0.47-0.02260.03900.04-0.02-0.53
0.44-0.02270.03850.04-0.02-0.56
0.41-0.02280.03780.04-0.02-0.60
0.38-0.02290.03680.04-0.02-0.62
0.36-0.02300.03570.04-0.02-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1162636467016K0
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

spot1132435467519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 143K call contracts, 37K 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: QURE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk