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

RELY max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.17
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$10-58.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.35±47.0% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.06248 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3071.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$53Kper 1% move

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

spot103916222935$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot102.57.512.517.522.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RELY 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

spot102.57.512.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3916222935112%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2.57.512.517.522.530+$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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96—7.50.00340.02-0.00-0.03
0.940.00100.00570.03-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.0012.50.00860.04-0.00-0.09
0.87-0.00150.01210.06-0.00-0.13
0.82-0.0017.50.01590.07-0.00-0.18
0.77-0.00200.01970.08-0.01-0.24
0.71-0.0122.50.02310.09-0.01-0.31
0.64-0.01250.02600.10-0.01-0.38
0.51-0.01300.02940.11-0.01-0.53
0.38-0.01350.02940.10-0.01-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 12 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