Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:28 PM ET

SIMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$188
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$240+27.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$93±49.5% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI1.2728 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV30100.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$908per 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$210+11.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$220+17.0%53d
Fri, Mar 19$250+33.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$240+27.7%234d
Fri, Dec 17$165-12.2%417d
Fri, Jan 21$140-25.5%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240110160210260310360$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot2401101601952302803502121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIMO 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

spot24011016019523028035011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot11016021026031036083%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 200110160195230280350+$3K−$3K
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
0.88-0.051100.00160.30-0.05-0.12
0.78-0.071450.00250.45-0.08-0.23
0.75-0.081550.00270.48-0.08-0.26
0.73-0.081600.00280.50-0.08-0.28
0.67-0.091800.00310.55-0.09-0.34
0.65-0.091850.00310.56-0.09-0.36
0.62-0.091950.00320.57-0.10-0.39
0.61-0.092000.00330.58-0.10-0.41
0.55-0.102200.00340.60-0.10-0.47
0.52-0.102300.00340.60-0.10-0.50
0.49-0.102400.00340.60-0.10-0.53
0.47-0.102500.00340.60-0.10-0.55
0.40-0.102800.00330.58-0.10-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701201702403404402K0
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

spot701201702403404402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 6K 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: SIMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk