Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 3:14 AM ET

TLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.3
Max pain · Mon, Nov 2$81-0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.39±1.7% by Mon, Nov 2
Put/Call OI0.364K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$86largest call OI
Put wall$81.5largest put OI
IV3013.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $81

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Oct 26$80-1.6%1d
Wed, Oct 28$80.5-1.0%3d
Fri, Oct 30$79-2.8%5d
Mon, Nov 2$81-0.4%8d
Wed, Nov 4$81.5+0.2%10d
Fri, Nov 6$78.5-3.4%12d
Fri, Nov 20$81-0.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$81-0.4%54d
Thu, Dec 31$81-0.4%67d
Fri, Jan 15$85+4.6%82d
Fri, Feb 19$81-0.4%117d
Fri, Mar 19$80-1.6%145d
Wed, Mar 31$81-0.4%157d
Fri, Apr 16$82+0.9%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot81747780828588$5M$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 — 81 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Mon, Nov 2

spot817476.57981.584884K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TLT open contracts per strike for Mon, Nov 2.

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 · Mon, Nov 2

spot817476.57981.584881K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Mon, Nov 2

spot74778082858822%11%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 11.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Mon, Nov 2

spotflip 817476.57981.58488+$2.6M−$2.6M
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 · Mon, Nov 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01780.03640.01-0.01-0.05
0.96-0.0178.50.05370.01-0.01-0.07
0.93-0.01790.08160.02-0.01-0.11
0.89-0.0179.50.12250.03-0.02-0.17
0.82-0.02800.17420.04-0.03-0.25
0.72-0.0380.50.22640.05-0.03-0.36
0.60-0.03810.26220.05-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.0381.50.26740.05-0.03-0.61
0.34-0.03820.24130.05-0.03-0.73
0.24-0.0382.50.19680.04-0.02-0.81
0.17-0.02830.15010.03-0.02-0.87
0.11-0.0283.50.11080.03-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.01840.08050.02-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.0184.50.05850.02-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01850.04210.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6472.577.582889752K0
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

spot457381.58897120988K988K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8.9M call contracts, 4.6M 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: TLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk