Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 11:49 PM ET

STEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.94
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$50+19.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.1±33.6% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI1.177 puts / 6 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$178per 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$30-28.5%23d
Fri, Dec 18$40-4.6%51d
Fri, Mar 19$45+7.3%142d
Thu, Jun 17$50+19.2%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50233140485765$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot5022.5354050556544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STEP open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot5022.5354050556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot23314048576568%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 5022.53540505565+$125−$125
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.0022.50.00630.05-0.01-0.08
0.75-0.01350.01700.10-0.01-0.26
0.65-0.01400.02100.12-0.01-0.37
0.42-0.01500.02370.13-0.01-0.59
0.33-0.01550.02220.12-0.01-0.69
0.20-0.01650.01680.09-0.01-0.84

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

spot22.53550658010K0
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

spot22.53550658010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 953 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: STEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk