Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:20 AM ET

SOLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40-28.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.5±45.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.20241 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV30123.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 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$42-24.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$52-6.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$40-28.3%82d
Fri, Feb 19$59+5.7%117d
Fri, May 21$60+7.5%208d
Fri, Jan 21$34-39.1%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot401938577796115$6M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot40192939485773138138
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOLT open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot4019293948577333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1938577796115170%119%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 120.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 22192939485773+$5K−$5K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.70-0.07490.01030.09-0.07-0.29
0.69-0.07500.01050.10-0.07-0.30
0.68-0.07510.01070.10-0.07-0.32
0.67-0.07520.01080.10-0.07-0.33
0.66-0.07530.01100.10-0.07-0.34
0.64-0.07540.01120.10-0.07-0.35
0.63-0.07550.01130.10-0.07-0.36
0.62-0.07560.01140.10-0.07-0.37
0.61-0.07570.01150.10-0.07-0.39
0.60-0.07580.01160.10-0.08-0.40
0.58-0.08590.01170.10-0.08-0.41
0.57-0.08600.01180.11-0.08-0.42
0.54-0.08630.01200.11-0.08-0.45
0.52-0.08650.01200.11-0.08-0.47
0.47-0.08700.01200.11-0.08-0.53

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1935455566805070
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

spot153344556580778778
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 4K 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: SOLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk