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

SYM max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.29
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.1±25.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.478K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3074.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$148Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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, 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

spot408325781106130$117M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot407.52542.56077.51102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SYM 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

spot407.52542.56077.51102020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8325781106130242%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 107.52542.56077.5110+$55K−$55K
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
0.96-0.0122.50.00620.02-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01250.00950.03-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0127.50.01360.04-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.02300.01830.04-0.02-0.16
0.78-0.0232.50.02280.06-0.02-0.22
0.71-0.03350.02680.07-0.03-0.29
0.64-0.0337.50.02960.07-0.03-0.37
0.56-0.03400.03100.07-0.03-0.45
0.48-0.0342.50.03130.07-0.03-0.52
0.42-0.03450.03040.07-0.03-0.59
0.35-0.0347.50.02880.07-0.03-0.66
0.30-0.03500.02680.07-0.03-0.71
0.25-0.0352.50.02440.06-0.03-0.76
0.21-0.02550.02200.06-0.02-0.80
0.18-0.0257.50.01970.05-0.02-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 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