Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:11 AM ET

TEAM max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.83
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$135-40.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.55±24.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6520K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3078.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$202.5-11.1%5d
Fri, Nov 6$200-12.2%12d
Fri, Nov 13$200-12.2%19d
Fri, Nov 20$185-18.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$205-10.0%33d
Fri, Dec 4$200-12.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$115-49.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$135-40.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$120-47.3%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13530120210300390480$919M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13530751201652203107K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEAM 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

spot13530751201652203105757
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot35124213302391480204%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 10065100135170210280+$505K−$505K
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
0.82-0.121800.00350.29-0.12-0.18
0.80-0.121850.00380.31-0.13-0.20
0.77-0.131900.00410.33-0.13-0.23
0.75-0.141950.00430.35-0.14-0.25
0.72-0.142000.00460.36-0.15-0.28
0.67-0.152100.00500.40-0.16-0.33
0.62-0.162200.00530.42-0.17-0.39
0.56-0.172300.00550.43-0.17-0.44
0.51-0.172400.00560.43-0.17-0.50
0.46-0.172500.00560.43-0.17-0.55
0.41-0.162600.00550.42-0.17-0.60
0.36-0.162700.00530.41-0.16-0.65
0.32-0.152800.00500.39-0.15-0.69
0.28-0.142900.00470.36-0.14-0.73
0.24-0.133000.00440.34-0.14-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100157.5180205227.52508350
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

spot307512016520529011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 84K call contracts, 61K 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: TEAM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk