Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 6:45 PM ET

RMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$233.66
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$220-5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.2±18.9% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI34.283K puts / 89 calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$185largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$588Kper 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, Oct 16$220-5.8%2d
Fri, Nov 20$230-1.6%37d
Fri, Dec 18$230-1.6%65d
Fri, Jan 15$230-1.6%93d
Fri, Apr 16$220-5.8%184d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot220160190220250280310$8M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot2201601802002302603003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RMD 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

spot22016018020023026030022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot16019022025028031039%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot160180200230260300+$606K−$606K
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
0.91-0.021750.00280.28-0.03-0.10
0.89-0.021800.00320.32-0.03-0.11
0.87-0.031850.00360.35-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.031950.00440.43-0.04-0.18
0.80-0.042000.00490.47-0.04-0.21
0.74-0.042100.00570.54-0.05-0.27
0.68-0.052200.00640.59-0.05-0.33
0.61-0.052300.00700.64-0.06-0.41
0.54-0.062400.00730.66-0.06-0.48
0.47-0.062500.00740.66-0.06-0.56
0.40-0.052600.00730.64-0.06-0.63
0.34-0.052700.00690.60-0.05-0.70
0.28-0.052800.00640.56-0.05-0.77
0.18-0.043000.00510.45-0.03-0.88
0.15-0.033100.00440.39-0.03-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1351601952302703101K0
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

spot1051451852503304107K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 16K 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: RMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk