Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:15 AM ET

ST max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$27.5-32.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.45±15.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.421K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3044.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$132Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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$45+10.6%28d
Fri, Dec 18$50+22.9%56d
Fri, Jan 15$27.5-32.4%84d
Fri, Mar 19$42.5+4.4%147d
Thu, Jun 17$47.5+16.7%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27.551933476175$12M$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 — 27.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot27.552032.54557.575771771
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ST 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

spot27.552032.54557.5752424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23334454657590%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 12.552032.54557.575+$42K−$42K
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
0.97—22.50.00440.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.00250.00670.02-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0027.50.01020.02-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01300.01530.03-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.0132.50.02270.04-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01350.03230.05-0.01-0.20
0.71-0.0137.50.04270.07-0.02-0.29
0.59-0.02400.05030.08-0.02-0.42
0.47-0.0242.50.05210.08-0.02-0.55
0.35-0.02450.04810.07-0.02-0.67
0.26-0.0147.50.04100.06-0.01-0.77
0.19-0.01500.03330.05-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.0152.50.02630.04-0.01-0.89
0.10-0.01550.02060.04-0.01-0.93
0.07-0.0157.50.01600.03-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1022.53547.5602K0
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

spot517.53042.555702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 3K 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: ST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk