Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 10:02 AM ET

RBRK max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.32
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$80-33.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.7±23.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2810K puts / 34K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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 23$114-5.3%today
Fri, Oct 30$110-8.6%7d
Fri, Nov 6$112-6.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$117-2.8%21d
Fri, Nov 20$110-8.6%28d
Fri, Nov 27$109-9.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$110-8.6%56d
Fri, Jan 15$80-33.5%84d
Fri, Apr 16$110-8.6%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot80185185118152185$243M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8017.54062.5851151605K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RBRK 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

spot8017.54062.5851151606969
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot185185118152185231%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 5527.547.567.587.5115155+$733K−$733K
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
0.84-0.0592.50.00610.14-0.05-0.16
0.82-0.05950.00660.15-0.06-0.18
0.80-0.0697.50.00720.16-0.06-0.20
0.78-0.061000.00770.17-0.07-0.22
0.73-0.071050.00860.19-0.07-0.27
0.68-0.071100.00930.21-0.08-0.32
0.63-0.081150.00990.22-0.08-0.37
0.58-0.081200.01030.23-0.08-0.42
0.52-0.081250.01060.23-0.08-0.47
0.47-0.081300.01060.23-0.08-0.53
0.43-0.081350.01040.23-0.08-0.57
0.38-0.081400.01010.22-0.08-0.62
0.34-0.081450.00970.21-0.07-0.66
0.30-0.071500.00920.20-0.07-0.70
0.26-0.071550.00870.19-0.06-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 51 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55951051151251359880
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

spot306082.510211815010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 70K call contracts, 28K 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: RBRK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk