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

SOLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$34-39.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$54±96.8% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.10168 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV30123.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move

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

spot341535557595115$9M$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 — 34 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot34153043546485210210
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOLT 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

spot3415304354648511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1535557595115137%111%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 124.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot153043546485+$2K−$2K
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
0.73-0.02490.00410.17-0.02-0.20
0.72-0.02500.00410.18-0.02-0.21
0.72-0.02510.00410.18-0.02-0.21
0.71-0.03520.00420.18-0.02-0.21
0.71-0.03530.00420.18-0.02-0.22
0.70-0.03540.00420.18-0.02-0.22
0.70-0.03550.00420.18-0.02-0.23
0.70-0.03560.00420.19-0.02-0.23
0.69-0.03570.00430.19-0.02-0.23
0.69-0.03580.00430.19-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.03590.00430.19-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.03600.00430.19-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.03610.00430.19-0.02-0.25
0.67-0.03620.00440.20-0.02-0.25
0.67-0.03630.00440.20-0.02-0.26

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 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