Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:04 AM ET

TTAN max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.06
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$60-31.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.85±32.0% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.71874 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3056.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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$60-31.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$80-8.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$65-25.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$60-31.1%172d
Fri, Jul 16$75-13.9%263d
Fri, Oct 15$60-31.1%354d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6030537699122145$7M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot6030507090110130196196
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TTAN open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot60305070901101301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot3053769912214596%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 8030507090110130+$14K−$14K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01500.00320.07-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.02550.00440.10-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.02600.00570.13-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.03650.00700.15-0.03-0.17
0.78-0.03700.00810.18-0.03-0.22
0.72-0.03750.00920.20-0.03-0.27
0.67-0.04800.01000.22-0.04-0.33
0.62-0.04850.01060.23-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.04900.01100.24-0.04-0.44
0.51-0.04950.01120.24-0.04-0.49
0.46-0.041000.01110.24-0.04-0.55
0.41-0.041050.01090.23-0.04-0.59
0.37-0.041100.01060.23-0.04-0.64
0.33-0.041150.01020.22-0.04-0.68
0.29-0.031200.00970.21-0.04-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3055801051301553K0
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

spot3055801051301553K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 12K 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: TTAN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk