Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 3:06 AM ET

STNG max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.92
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$65-24.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.45±21.5% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.63231 puts / 367 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3043.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47.5

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$90+4.7%27d
Fri, Dec 18$82.5-4.0%55d
Fri, Jan 15$67.5-21.4%83d
Fri, Apr 16$65-24.3%174d
Fri, May 21$65-24.3%209d
Thu, Jun 17$85-1.1%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6545627996113130$2M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot65456077.587.5100125127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STNG open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot65456077.587.5100125115115
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot4562799611313057%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 47.5456077.587.5100125+$14K−$14K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.01600.00630.10-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01650.00850.13-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02700.01100.16-0.02-0.20
0.74-0.02750.01330.19-0.02-0.27
0.70-0.0277.50.01430.20-0.02-0.30
0.66-0.03800.01520.21-0.03-0.34
0.62-0.0382.50.01590.22-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.03850.01640.23-0.03-0.42
0.54-0.0387.50.01680.23-0.03-0.47
0.50-0.03900.01690.23-0.03-0.51
0.46-0.0392.50.01680.23-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.03950.01660.23-0.03-0.59
0.35-0.021000.01570.22-0.03-0.66
0.29-0.021050.01440.20-0.02-0.72
0.23-0.021100.01290.18-0.02-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2542.557.572.587.51054K0
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

spot17.53552.57087.51104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 16K 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: STNG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk