Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 3, 11:34 PM ET

SWKS max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.03
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.85±23.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.7118K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$72.5largest put OI
IV3055.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$37Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Oct 16$85-0.0%12d
Fri, Nov 20$70-17.7%47d
Fri, Dec 18$70-17.7%75d
Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.7%103d
Fri, Feb 19$80-5.9%138d
Fri, Mar 19$65-23.6%166d
Fri, May 21$80-5.9%229d
Thu, Jun 17$77.5-8.9%256d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot72.528517598122145$59M$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 — 72.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot72.527.54562.58097.51304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SWKS 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

spot72.527.54562.58097.513033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot28517598122145144%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 11527.54562.58097.5130+$353K−$353K
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
0.82-0.0367.50.00980.12-0.03-0.18
0.79-0.04700.01080.13-0.04-0.21
0.76-0.0472.50.01190.14-0.04-0.24
0.72-0.04750.01280.15-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.0477.50.01360.16-0.04-0.31
0.65-0.04800.01430.17-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.0582.50.01480.17-0.05-0.39
0.57-0.05850.01510.18-0.05-0.43
0.54-0.0587.50.01540.18-0.05-0.47
0.50-0.05900.01540.18-0.05-0.51
0.46-0.0592.50.01530.18-0.05-0.54
0.43-0.05950.01510.18-0.05-0.58
0.40-0.0597.50.01480.17-0.05-0.61
0.36-0.051000.01440.17-0.05-0.64
0.31-0.041050.01340.16-0.04-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.547.562.577.592.51153K0
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

spot27.54562.58097.51305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 38K 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: SWKS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk