Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:30 PM ET

RIOT max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$16+30.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.19±34.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4068K puts / 173K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3097.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$566Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$16+30.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$16+30.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$17+38.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$15+22.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$16+30.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$15+22.0%39d
Fri, Dec 18$17+38.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$16+30.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$22+78.9%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1611019273645$369M$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16191725334139K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RIOT 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

spot161917253341253253
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11019273645236%80%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 101917253341+$208K−$208K
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
0.99-0.0050.00630.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0060.01280.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0070.02190.01-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.0180.03250.01-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.0190.04340.01-0.01-0.16
0.78-0.01100.05340.02-0.01-0.23
0.71-0.01110.06180.02-0.01-0.30
0.64-0.01120.06810.02-0.01-0.37
0.57-0.01130.07180.02-0.01-0.44
0.50-0.01140.07310.02-0.01-0.51
0.43-0.01150.07230.02-0.01-0.57
0.38-0.01160.06980.02-0.01-0.63
0.33-0.01170.06620.02-0.01-0.69
0.28-0.01180.06180.02-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01190.05690.02-0.01-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1111519233121K0
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

spot11015202636124K124K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 605K call contracts, 366K 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: RIOT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk