Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 12:53 AM ET

SBLK max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.86
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$31+11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.98±14.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.479K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3037.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$454Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $29

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$30+7.7%31d
Fri, Dec 18$27-3.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$31+11.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$35+25.6%122d
Fri, May 21$40+43.6%213d
Thu, Jun 17$22-21.0%240d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3151219263340$15M$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 — 31 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot315202530354013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SBLK 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

spot31520253035402222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101622283440125%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2952025303540+$327K−$327K
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
0.95-0.00210.01990.01-0.01-0.10
0.93-0.00220.02790.02-0.01-0.13
0.90-0.01230.03900.02-0.01-0.17
0.86-0.01240.05320.03-0.01-0.22
0.80-0.01250.07000.03-0.01-0.28
0.72-0.01260.08640.04-0.01-0.36
0.63-0.01270.09810.05-0.01-0.44
0.53-0.01280.10220.05-0.01-0.53
0.43-0.01290.09820.05-0.01-0.61
0.34-0.01300.08850.05-0.01-0.68
0.27-0.01310.07660.04-0.01-0.75
0.21-0.01320.06470.04-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.01330.05390.03-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01340.04480.03-0.01-0.87
0.11-0.01350.03710.03-0.00-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10202630343817K0
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

spot3152127333918K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 28K 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: SBLK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk