Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:07 AM ET

TREE max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.21
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$30+14.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.38±24.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.843K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3079.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$30+14.5%23d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-14.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$30+14.5%79d
Fri, Apr 16$25-4.6%170d
Fri, Dec 17$15-42.8%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152535455565$4M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot301520253545551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TREE 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

spot301520253545555050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot152535455565118%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 17.5152025354555+$24K−$24K
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
0.95-0.01150.01010.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.0117.50.01750.02-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01200.02780.03-0.01-0.15
0.75-0.0122.50.03950.04-0.02-0.25
0.63-0.02250.04880.05-0.02-0.37
0.39-0.02300.04990.05-0.02-0.62
0.23-0.01350.03730.04-0.01-0.79
0.13-0.01400.02530.03-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.01450.01690.02-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.01500.01160.01-0.01-0.98
0.04-0.00550.00810.01-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.00650.00420.01-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1520253545551K0
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

spot12.5203045601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 4K 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: TREE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk