Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:22 AM ET

REPL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.46
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2-82.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93±43.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.136K puts / 44K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$11largest put OI
IV3088.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$192Kper 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, Oct 30$12.5+9.1%5d
Fri, Nov 6$13+13.4%12d
Fri, Nov 13$12.5+9.1%19d
Fri, Nov 20$8.5-25.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$8.5-25.8%33d
Fri, Dec 18$13+13.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$2-82.5%82d
Fri, Feb 19$13+13.4%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21611162227$83M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20.54914192417K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)REPL 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

spot20.54914192411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1611162227407%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 115.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20.5510152025+$151K−$151K
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
0.97-0.0040.00800.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0050.01350.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0160.02130.01-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0170.03170.01-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.0180.04410.01-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0190.05720.02-0.01-0.22
0.71-0.01100.06880.02-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01110.07710.02-0.01-0.37
0.55-0.01120.08140.02-0.01-0.45
0.48-0.01130.08180.02-0.01-0.53
0.41-0.01140.07940.02-0.01-0.60
0.35-0.01150.07500.02-0.01-0.66
0.30-0.01160.06970.02-0.01-0.71
0.26-0.01170.06400.02-0.01-0.75
0.22-0.01180.05830.02-0.01-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot510.51213.5152K0
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

spot0.5711.51620.52622K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 15K 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: REPL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk