Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:37 PM ET

STLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$241.53
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$210-13.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.85±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.802K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$279Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

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$240-0.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$240-0.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$210-13.1%82d
Fri, Feb 19$200-17.2%117d
Fri, Mar 19$250+3.5%145d
Fri, May 21$240-0.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21060134208282356430$47M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot21060105150195280370449449
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STLD 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

spot2106010515019528037033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot70142214286358430142%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 180105145185250330410+$174K−$174K
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
0.93-0.041850.00280.16-0.04-0.07
0.91-0.041900.00330.19-0.04-0.09
0.90-0.051950.00390.21-0.05-0.11
0.87-0.062000.00450.24-0.06-0.13
0.82-0.072100.00590.31-0.07-0.19
0.75-0.082200.00740.37-0.08-0.26
0.67-0.092300.00860.42-0.09-0.34
0.57-0.102400.00940.46-0.10-0.43
0.48-0.102500.00960.46-0.10-0.53
0.39-0.092600.00930.45-0.10-0.62
0.31-0.092700.00850.41-0.09-0.71
0.24-0.082800.00750.36-0.08-0.78
0.18-0.072900.00630.31-0.07-0.85
0.14-0.063000.00520.26-0.07-0.90
0.11-0.053100.00420.21-0.06-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701201652203104001K0
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

spot601051501952803703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 11K 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: STLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk