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

SBLK max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.86
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$22-21.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.43±23.1% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI0.42424 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3037.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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

spot22101622283440$1M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot22102025283240602602
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SBLK open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot2210202528324044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot10162228344074%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 22102025283240+$18K−$18K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99—170.00560.00-0.00-0.11
0.96-0.00200.01900.01-0.01-0.18
0.90-0.00220.03800.03-0.01-0.25
0.79-0.01240.05940.05-0.01-0.34
0.72-0.01250.06640.06-0.01-0.39
0.65-0.01260.06940.07-0.01-0.44
0.57-0.01270.06880.08-0.01-0.49
0.51-0.01280.06580.08-0.01-0.54
0.39-0.01300.05750.08-0.01-0.63
0.34-0.01310.05340.07-0.00-0.67
0.30-0.01320.04930.07-0.00-0.71
0.20-0.00350.03810.06-0.00-0.79
0.12-0.00390.02610.04-0.00-0.86
0.11-0.00400.02370.04-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 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