Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:14 AM ET

SPB max pain

Spot (delayed)$80.69
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$70-13.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.7±14.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.1728 puts / 168 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3039.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$80-0.9%23d
Fri, Dec 18$65-19.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$70-13.2%79d
Fri, Apr 16$70-13.2%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7055698397111125$1M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7055758595105120110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPB 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

spot705575859510512011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5569839711112563%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot55758595105120+$16K−$16K
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
0.93-0.02550.00580.05-0.02-0.07
0.79-0.03700.01750.11-0.03-0.21
0.69-0.03750.02390.13-0.03-0.31
0.56-0.03800.02930.15-0.03-0.45
0.41-0.03850.03000.15-0.03-0.60
0.29-0.03900.02580.13-0.03-0.73
0.20-0.02950.02030.11-0.02-0.82
0.15-0.021000.01550.09-0.02-0.88
0.11-0.021050.01200.07-0.02-0.91
0.09-0.021100.00940.06-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.011200.00610.04-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5075901051251230
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

spot35557595115980980
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 464 call contracts, 1K 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: SPB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk