Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:25 AM ET

TEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.29
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50-2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.85±19.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.24335 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3053.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$50-2.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$55+7.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$50-2.5%82d
Fri, Apr 16$60+17.0%173d
Fri, Jan 21$60+17.0%453d
Fri, Jan 19$50-2.5%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot503045607590105$6M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot503045607590105285285
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEX 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

spot50304560759010533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot304560759010585%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 453045607590105+$20K−$20K
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
0.96-0.01300.00560.02-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.01350.01000.04-0.01-0.08
0.85-0.02400.01660.06-0.02-0.15
0.74-0.02450.02530.08-0.02-0.26
0.59-0.03500.03240.10-0.03-0.41
0.43-0.03550.03320.10-0.03-0.57
0.29-0.02600.02850.08-0.03-0.71
0.20-0.02650.02230.07-0.02-0.80
0.14-0.02700.01700.06-0.02-0.87
0.10-0.01750.01300.04-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.01800.01010.04-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01850.00800.03-0.01-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 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

spot30456075901055K0
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

spot30456075901055K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 864 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: TEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk