Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 1:10 AM ET

RSG max pain

Spot (delayed)$240.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$175-27.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18±7.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.46487 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$175largest put OI
IV3020.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$433Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $175

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$230-4.3%27d
Fri, Dec 18$220-8.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$175-27.2%83d
Fri, Apr 16$195-18.9%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175130164198232266300$10M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot175130155180210260173173
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RSG 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

spot17513015518021026011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13016419823226630075%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 175130155180210260+$178K−$178K
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
0.98-0.011850.00150.06-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.011900.00200.08-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.011950.00270.10-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.022000.00350.12-0.02-0.05
0.91-0.032100.00610.19-0.03-0.10
0.84-0.042200.00990.28-0.04-0.17
0.72-0.052300.01450.39-0.05-0.29
0.56-0.052400.01780.45-0.05-0.45
0.39-0.052500.01730.44-0.05-0.63
0.24-0.042600.01380.36-0.05-0.79
0.15-0.032700.00970.27-0.04-0.90
0.09-0.032800.00660.20-0.03-0.97
0.06-0.022900.00440.14-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.013000.00300.10—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301551802102609250
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

spot110140170200260320997997
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: RSG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk