Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:17 AM ET

REI max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.46
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$0.5-65.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.93±63.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.143K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV3061.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1
Earnings · expectedFri, Nov 6usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$1.5+2.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$1-31.5%89d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Nov 6)
Fri, Jan 15$1-31.5%117d
Fri, Mar 19$1-31.5%180d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5-65.8%488d
Fri, Jan 19$0.5-65.8%852d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112334$3M$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot0.50.511.52346K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)REI open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot0.50.511.5234349349
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot12233495%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 10.511.5234+$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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.910.000.50.09060.000.00-0.07
0.780.0010.19140.000.00-0.18
0.630.001.50.26880.010.00-0.32
0.500.0020.30040.010.00-0.46
0.310.0030.27670.010.00-0.66
0.210.0040.22340.010.00-0.81

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

spot0.51.53528K0
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

spot0.51.53532K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 84K call contracts, 4K 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: REI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk