Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:45 PM ET

SFM max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.45
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$60-5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.95±42.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.243K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3058.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$369Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$70+10.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$75+18.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$80+26.1%80d
Fri, Mar 19$70+10.3%143d
Thu, Jun 17$70+10.3%233d
Fri, Jan 21$60-5.4%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60356493122151180$107M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot603560851101351603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SFM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot603560851101351602323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot35649312215118060%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 50356085110135160+$127K−$127K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.00350.00390.11-0.01-0.08
0.90-0.00400.00530.14-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.01450.00670.17-0.01-0.16
0.81-0.01500.00800.20-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01550.00930.23-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01600.01030.25-0.01-0.33
0.65-0.01650.01110.27-0.01-0.39
0.59-0.01700.01170.28-0.01-0.45
0.54-0.01750.01200.28-0.01-0.51
0.49-0.01800.01210.28-0.01-0.57
0.44-0.01850.01200.28-0.01-0.63
0.40-0.01900.01170.28-0.01-0.68
0.36-0.01950.01130.27-0.01-0.74
0.33-0.011000.01080.26-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35701051401752205K0
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

spot357010514017522010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 25K 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: SFM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk