Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:24 PM ET

SOXX max pain

Spot (delayed)$477.04
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$505+5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$77.15±16.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.5386K puts / 56K calls
Call wall$580largest call OI
Put wall$330largest put OI
IV3044.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$21.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $185

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, Oct 30$520+9.0%5d
Fri, Nov 6$520+9.0%12d
Fri, Nov 13$520+9.0%19d
Fri, Nov 20$560+17.4%26d
Fri, Nov 27$505+5.9%33d
Fri, Dec 4$500+4.8%40d
Fri, Dec 18$530+11.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$505+5.9%82d
Fri, Feb 19$535+12.1%117d
Fri, Mar 19$550+15.3%145d
Fri, Apr 16$530+11.1%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot505140302464626788950$2.4B$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 — 505 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot50514031039048053058516K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXX 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

spot5051403103904805305855K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot140302464626788950120%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 185185315400485535590+$10.9M−$10.9M
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
0.77-0.194200.00290.69-0.19-0.23
0.74-0.204300.00310.74-0.20-0.26
0.70-0.214400.00340.79-0.21-0.29
0.67-0.214500.00360.83-0.22-0.33
0.65-0.224550.00370.85-0.22-0.35
0.63-0.224600.00380.86-0.22-0.37
0.59-0.224700.00400.89-0.23-0.41
0.57-0.234750.00400.90-0.23-0.43
0.55-0.234800.00410.91-0.23-0.45
0.53-0.234850.00410.91-0.23-0.47
0.51-0.234900.00420.91-0.23-0.49
0.49-0.224950.00420.91-0.23-0.52
0.47-0.225000.00420.91-0.23-0.54
0.45-0.225050.00420.91-0.23-0.56
0.43-0.225100.00420.90-0.22-0.58

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot350475522.5555587.56258K0
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

spot20037046052058066086K86K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 233K call contracts, 456K 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: SOXX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk