Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:35 AM ET

TRNS max pain

Spot (delayed)$82.1
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$55-33.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.95±17.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0446 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3054.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$80-2.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$90+9.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$55-33.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$55-33.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$50-39.1%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55306396129162195$12M$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

spot55305090115155195857857
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TRNS 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

spot5530509011515519511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot30639612916219598%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 85305090115155195+$136K−$136K
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
0.99-0.00300.00030.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00350.00050.01-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00400.00100.01-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.01450.00180.02-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01500.00300.03-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01550.00480.04-0.01-0.05
0.71-0.04750.01890.14-0.04-0.29
0.48-0.04850.02360.16-0.04-0.52
0.37-0.04900.02290.15-0.04-0.64
0.27-0.03950.02030.13-0.03-0.74
0.20-0.031000.01690.11-0.03-0.82
0.14-0.021050.01330.09-0.02-0.88
0.07-0.011150.00780.05-0.02-0.96
0.05-0.011200.00590.04-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.011350.00260.02—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40851001201551758570
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

spot306090120150180857857
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 85 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: TRNS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk