Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:27 PM ET

SARO max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20-10.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.65±16.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.21551 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3048.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$20-10.6%23d
Fri, Dec 18$25+11.7%51d
Fri, Jan 15$20-10.6%79d
Fri, Apr 16$20-10.6%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152025303540$4M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2015202535865865
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SARO 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

spot201520253511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152025303540111%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 17.515202535+$32K−$32K
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
0.94-0.00150.01860.01-0.01-0.06
0.88-0.0117.50.03670.02-0.01-0.13
0.75-0.01200.06500.03-0.01-0.25
0.55-0.0122.50.08760.04-0.01-0.46
0.35-0.01250.08080.04-0.01-0.66
0.15-0.01300.04270.02-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.01350.02280.01-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.00400.01360.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot152025352K0
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

spot2.51017.525404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 4K 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: SARO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk