Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:01 AM ET

TEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.3
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$55-18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.53±29.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4044K puts / 109K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3085.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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 23$69+2.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$70+4.0%9d
Fri, Nov 6$70+4.0%16d
Fri, Nov 13$70+4.0%23d
Fri, Nov 20$65-3.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$69+2.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$65-3.4%58d
Fri, Jan 15$55-18.3%86d
Fri, Feb 19$70+4.0%121d
Fri, Mar 19$70+4.0%149d
Fri, Apr 16$70+4.0%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5518447197124150$667M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5517.535608511013520K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEM 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

spot5517.5356085110135277277
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot18447197124150155%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7017.5356085110135+$964K−$964K
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
0.990.00300.00150.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01350.00280.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01400.00470.04-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.02450.00710.06-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.03500.00960.08-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.04550.01200.10-0.04-0.23
0.70-0.05600.01380.12-0.05-0.31
0.62-0.05650.01510.13-0.06-0.39
0.54-0.06700.01570.13-0.06-0.47
0.47-0.06750.01580.13-0.06-0.54
0.41-0.06800.01530.13-0.06-0.61
0.34-0.05850.01450.12-0.05-0.67
0.29-0.05900.01350.11-0.05-0.72
0.25-0.05950.01230.10-0.04-0.77
0.21-0.041000.01110.09-0.04-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40576777871005K0
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

spot17.55365778912030K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 232K call contracts, 127K 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: TEM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk