Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:01 PM ET

SMMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.61
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$16+9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.28±8.7% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.965K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$16.5largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV30117.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $11

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$16+9.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$17+16.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$15+2.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$16+9.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15.5+6.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$14-4.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$15+2.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+2.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$15+2.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$13-11.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1651117232935$10M$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot16513161922.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot16513161922.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot111316182123372%104%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 11913.51618.52125+$70K−$70K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0090.00460.00-0.00-0.00
0.97-0.01110.02740.00-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.03120.06510.00-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.0412.50.09660.00-0.04-0.10
0.84-0.05130.13670.00-0.05-0.16
0.76-0.0713.50.17970.01-0.07-0.24
0.65-0.08140.21450.01-0.08-0.35
0.54-0.0914.50.23020.01-0.09-0.46
0.43-0.09150.22380.01-0.09-0.57
0.33-0.0815.50.20130.01-0.08-0.67
0.25-0.07160.17160.01-0.07-0.75
0.19-0.0616.50.14140.00-0.06-0.81
0.15-0.05170.11450.00-0.05-0.85
0.11-0.0417.50.09180.00-0.04-0.89
0.09-0.04180.07350.00-0.04-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51416.51922262K0
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

spot110.51621.5273430K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 89K 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: SMMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk