Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:25 PM ET

RMBS max pain

Spot (delayed)$84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$97.5+16.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.25±61.0% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.462K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3081.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$77Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$100+19.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$95+13.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$95+13.1%81d
Fri, Feb 19$100+19.0%116d
Fri, May 21$110+31.0%207d
Fri, Jan 21$97.5+16.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot97.54584123162201240$35M$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 — 97.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot97.5457595125160195724724
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RMBS 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

spot97.54575951251601951212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot458412316220124074%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 100457595125160195+$27K−$27K
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
0.87-0.01550.00300.22-0.02-0.14
0.84-0.01600.00340.24-0.02-0.16
0.82-0.01650.00380.27-0.02-0.19
0.79-0.02700.00420.29-0.02-0.22
0.76-0.02750.00450.31-0.02-0.25
0.74-0.02800.00480.33-0.02-0.28
0.72-0.0282.50.00490.34-0.03-0.29
0.71-0.02850.00500.35-0.03-0.31
0.70-0.0287.50.00510.35-0.03-0.32
0.68-0.02900.00520.36-0.03-0.34
0.67-0.0292.50.00530.37-0.03-0.35
0.66-0.02950.00540.37-0.03-0.36
0.64-0.0397.50.00550.38-0.03-0.38
0.63-0.031000.00560.38-0.03-0.39
0.61-0.031050.00570.39-0.03-0.42

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4575951251601951K0
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

spot4575951251601952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 13K 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: RMBS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk