Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:30 PM ET

SKHY max pain

Spot (delayed)$162.45
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$150-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.8±31.9% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI2.4116K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3059.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move

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, Oct 30$145-10.7%2d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.6%9d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.6%16d
Fri, Nov 20$155-4.6%23d
Fri, Nov 27$145-10.7%30d
Fri, Dec 4$146-10.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$160-1.5%51d
Fri, Jan 15$140-13.8%79d
Fri, Feb 19$155-4.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$150-7.7%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15070130190250310370$123M$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot150701151501852202553K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKHY open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot15070115150185220255133133
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot7013019025031037092%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot70115150185220255+$378K−$378K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.051250.00420.31-0.05-0.20
0.77-0.051300.00450.33-0.06-0.22
0.74-0.051350.00480.35-0.06-0.25
0.71-0.061400.00500.37-0.06-0.28
0.68-0.061450.00530.39-0.07-0.31
0.65-0.061500.00550.40-0.07-0.34
0.62-0.071550.00560.41-0.07-0.37
0.59-0.071600.00580.42-0.07-0.40
0.56-0.071650.00580.43-0.07-0.43
0.53-0.071700.00590.43-0.07-0.45
0.51-0.071750.00590.44-0.07-0.48
0.48-0.071800.00590.44-0.07-0.51
0.45-0.071850.00580.43-0.07-0.54
0.43-0.071900.00580.43-0.07-0.56
0.41-0.071950.00570.42-0.07-0.58

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25125140152.518021511K0
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

spot5010514417022027546K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 622K call contracts, 603K 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: SKHY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk