Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:01 PM ET

TENX max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2+17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.03±60.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.132K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30100.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move

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, Nov 20$1.5-11.8%30d
Fri, Dec 18$1.5-11.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$2+17.6%86d
Fri, Apr 16$1.5-11.8%177d
Fri, Jan 21$2+17.6%457d
Fri, Jan 19$2+17.6%821d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21815212835$38M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot212.57.51522.5359K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TENX 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

spot212.57.51522.53522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2815222835464%92%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 174.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12.57.51522.535+$10K−$10K
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
0.88-0.0010.21400.00-0.00-0.13
0.68-0.001.50.44070.00-0.00-0.33
0.45-0.0020.48870.00-0.00-0.56
0.31-0.002.50.40560.00-0.00-0.71
0.18-0.003.50.26520.00-0.00-0.84
0.12-0.0050.16900.000.00-0.91
0.08-0.007.50.10680.00—-0.97
0.06-0.00100.07980.00—-0.99
0.05-0.0012.50.06480.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52512.520309K0
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

spot0.523.51017.52510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 2K 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: TENX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk