Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 7:04 PM ET

RGLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$231.71
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$230-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$49.5±21.4% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.24142 puts / 597 calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$120Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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 16$250+7.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$240+3.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$220-5.1%64d
Fri, Jan 15$220-5.1%92d
Fri, Apr 16$230-0.7%183d
Thu, Jun 17$220-5.1%245d
Fri, Sep 17$195-15.8%337d
Fri, Jan 21$200-13.7%463d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230145196247298349400$7M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot230145175220280340400281281
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RGLD open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot23014517522028034040088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot14519624729834940045%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 200145175220280340400+$84K−$84K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.031750.00300.32-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.031850.00370.39-0.04-0.16
0.82-0.041900.00410.43-0.04-0.18
0.80-0.041950.00440.46-0.05-0.21
0.77-0.052000.00480.50-0.05-0.23
0.71-0.052100.00540.56-0.06-0.29
0.65-0.062200.00590.60-0.06-0.35
0.59-0.062300.00620.63-0.07-0.42
0.53-0.072400.00640.65-0.07-0.48
0.47-0.072500.00640.65-0.07-0.54
0.41-0.062600.00620.64-0.07-0.60
0.36-0.062700.00600.61-0.06-0.66
0.31-0.062800.00560.58-0.06-0.71
0.27-0.062900.00520.54-0.06-0.76
0.23-0.053000.00480.50-0.05-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801301702203003807900
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

spot801251702303204101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 9K 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: RGLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk