Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:19 AM ET

SOLZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.08
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$8-20.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.73±66.7% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.04357 puts / 9K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3057.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$10-0.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$10-0.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$8-20.6%82d
Fri, Apr 16$11+9.1%173d
Fri, Jan 21$8-20.6%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot82813192430$13M$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot827121722282K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOLZ 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

spot8271217222822
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3814192530137%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 42712172228+$10K−$10K
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
0.92-0.0030.00890.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.0040.01310.02-0.00-0.08
0.86-0.0050.01810.02-0.00-0.11
0.82-0.0060.02390.03-0.00-0.14
0.78-0.0070.03040.03-0.00-0.18
0.73-0.0080.03730.03-0.00-0.23
0.67-0.0090.04410.04-0.00-0.28
0.62-0.00100.04960.04-0.00-0.33
0.56-0.00110.05310.04-0.00-0.39
0.51-0.00120.05450.04-0.00-0.44
0.47-0.00130.05420.04-0.00-0.48
0.43-0.00140.05280.04-0.00-0.52
0.40-0.00150.05100.04-0.00-0.55
0.37-0.00160.04900.04-0.00-0.58
0.35-0.00170.04700.04-0.00-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot48121620242K0
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

spot16111621264K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K 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: SOLZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk