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

STRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$356.72
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$460+29.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$103.2±28.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.90804 puts / 892 calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3088.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$97Kper 1% move

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$480+34.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$500+40.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$460+29.0%82d
Fri, Mar 19$450+26.2%145d
Thu, Jun 17$400+12.1%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot46025046067088010901300$62M$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 — 460 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot460250330410490640820409409
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STRL 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

spot4602503304104906408201414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25046067088010901300127%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot250330410490640820+$77K−$77K
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
0.78-0.232900.00220.51-0.24-0.22
0.76-0.253000.00240.54-0.25-0.25
0.73-0.263100.00260.57-0.27-0.28
0.70-0.273200.00270.60-0.28-0.31
0.67-0.283300.00280.62-0.29-0.34
0.64-0.293400.00290.64-0.29-0.37
0.61-0.303500.00300.66-0.30-0.40
0.58-0.303600.00310.67-0.31-0.43
0.55-0.303700.00310.68-0.31-0.46
0.52-0.303800.00310.68-0.31-0.49
0.49-0.303900.00310.68-0.31-0.52
0.46-0.304000.00310.68-0.31-0.55
0.43-0.304100.00310.67-0.31-0.58
0.41-0.294200.00300.66-0.30-0.61
0.38-0.294300.00300.65-0.30-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1503304605907309005670
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

spot150310420530650840815815
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 6K 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: STRL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk