Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:14 AM ET

SYM max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.29
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$41+4.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.35±6.0% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.741K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$44.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3074.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$32Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$41+4.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$43+9.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$40+1.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$42.5+8.2%25d
Fri, Nov 27$39-0.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$35-10.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$45+14.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40+1.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$40+1.8%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41303642485460$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 — 41 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot413035.539.54346.552220220
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SYM open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot413035.539.54346.5529292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot303642485460212%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot3035.539.54346.552+$32K−$32K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.0535.50.05670.01-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.06360.06750.01-0.06-0.15
0.82-0.0636.50.07900.01-0.06-0.18
0.78-0.07370.09090.02-0.07-0.23
0.67-0.09380.11230.02-0.09-0.33
0.61-0.0938.50.12020.02-0.09-0.39
0.55-0.09390.12500.02-0.09-0.45
0.49-0.0939.50.12660.02-0.09-0.51
0.43-0.09400.12460.02-0.09-0.57
0.37-0.0940.50.11940.02-0.09-0.63
0.31-0.08410.11180.02-0.08-0.69
0.26-0.0741.50.10240.02-0.07-0.74
0.22-0.07420.09200.02-0.07-0.78
0.18-0.0642.50.08140.01-0.06-0.82
0.15-0.05430.07100.01-0.05-0.85

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

spot32.538414447523760
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

spot7.53238.54552.5805K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 29K 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: SYM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk