Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 8:26 PM ET

SYY max pain

Spot (delayed)$82.52
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$80-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.75±8.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.594K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3023.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$922Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $87.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$80-3.1%22d
Fri, Dec 18$80-3.1%50d
Fri, Jan 15$80-3.1%78d
Fri, Feb 19$82.5-0.0%113d
Fri, Mar 19$82.5-0.0%141d
Fri, May 21$77.5-6.1%204d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8035537189107125$26M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot803547.56577.5901052K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SYY 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

spot803547.56577.5901052424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4057749110812585%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 87.53547.56577.590105+$324K−$324K
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
0.95-0.00650.00790.04-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.0067.50.01080.05-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.01700.01470.06-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.0172.50.01990.08-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.01750.02660.10-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.0277.50.03460.12-0.02-0.27
0.66-0.02800.04250.14-0.02-0.36
0.55-0.0282.50.04800.15-0.02-0.47
0.43-0.02850.04840.15-0.02-0.59
0.32-0.0287.50.04390.14-0.02-0.70
0.23-0.02900.03650.12-0.01-0.78
0.16-0.0192.50.02880.09-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.01950.02210.08-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.0197.50.01680.06-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.011000.01280.05-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50657585951107K0
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

spot355070851001309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 12K 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: SYY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk