Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 2:33 AM ET

SPYI max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.28
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$54+1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±10.3% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI3.24405 puts / 125 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$53largest put OI
IV3011.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$36Kper 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$53-0.5%21d
Fri, Dec 18$53-0.5%49d
Fri, Mar 19$54+1.4%140d
Thu, Jun 17$58+8.9%230d
Fri, Jan 21$54+1.4%448d
Fri, Jan 19$54+1.4%812d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot54353943485256$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 — 54 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot54354550525456295295
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPYI 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

spot5435455052545611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot40434650535624%8%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 10.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot4047515355+$46K−$46K
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
1.00—350.01360.10-0.00-0.12
1.00—400.02350.14-0.00-0.18
1.00—450.00110.00-0.00-0.30
1.00—470.00650.00-0.00-0.38
0.94-0.00500.07120.04-0.00-0.56
0.85-0.00510.13690.09-0.00-0.64
0.68-0.01520.18190.14-0.00-0.70
0.50-0.01530.16150.16-0.00-0.75
0.37-0.00540.11660.16-0.00-0.80
0.28-0.00550.08380.16-0.00-0.83
0.22-0.00560.06400.140.00-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4350535659643K0
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

spot3043485358633K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 12K 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: SPYI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk