Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:14 AM ET

RELY max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-37.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.05±20.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.332K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3071.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$82Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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$23-4.8%24d
Fri, Dec 18$15-37.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$15-37.9%80d
Fri, Apr 16$20-17.3%171d
Fri, Jan 21$10-58.6%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153916222935$6M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152.512.5192428321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RELY 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

spot152.512.5192428322626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101520253035124%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 12.52.512.519242832+$41K−$41K
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
0.94-0.01150.01280.01-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.01160.01620.02-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0117.50.02280.02-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01190.03120.03-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01200.03760.03-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01210.04430.04-0.01-0.23
0.70-0.0122.50.05380.04-0.01-0.31
0.61-0.01240.06100.04-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01250.06390.05-0.01-0.46
0.48-0.01260.06510.05-0.01-0.53
0.42-0.01270.06450.04-0.01-0.59
0.36-0.01280.06230.04-0.01-0.65
0.31-0.01290.05880.04-0.01-0.71
0.26-0.01300.05450.04-0.01-0.76
0.22-0.01310.04950.03-0.01-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.514202429353K0
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

spot2.51317.52226318K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 3K 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: RELY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk