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

SOXX max pain

Spot (delayed)$477.04
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$530+11.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$108.7±22.8% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.783K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$700largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3044.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$200Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $700

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

spot530265356447538629720$46M$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 — 530 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot530265425485540585660844844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXX open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot5302654254855405856606363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot26535644753862972057%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 700265425485540585660+$382K−$382K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.134300.00241.12-0.14-0.29
0.70-0.144350.00241.14-0.14-0.30
0.69-0.144400.00251.17-0.14-0.31
0.68-0.144450.00251.19-0.15-0.33
0.66-0.144500.00261.21-0.15-0.34
0.64-0.144600.00271.24-0.15-0.37
0.61-0.154700.00281.27-0.15-0.40
0.58-0.154800.00291.29-0.15-0.43
0.56-0.154850.00291.30-0.16-0.44
0.52-0.155000.00301.32-0.16-0.49
0.51-0.155050.00301.32-0.16-0.50
0.49-0.155100.00301.32-0.16-0.52
0.48-0.155150.00301.32-0.16-0.54
0.46-0.155200.00301.31-0.15-0.55
0.45-0.155250.00301.31-0.15-0.56

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

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