Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 1:39 AM ET

TTWO max pain

Spot (delayed)$205.16
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$220+7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.2±19.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3615K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3052.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

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, Oct 23$205-0.1%5d
Fri, Oct 30$205-0.1%12d
Fri, Nov 6$210+2.4%19d
Fri, Nov 13$210+2.4%26d
Fri, Nov 20$220+7.2%33d
Fri, Nov 27$200-2.5%40d
Fri, Dec 18$210+2.4%61d
Fri, Jan 15$220+7.2%89d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22075138201264327390$443M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot220751151551952703509K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TTWO 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

spot22075115155195270350232232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7513820126432739086%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 25075115155195270350+$964K−$964K
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
0.83-0.071700.00510.26-0.07-0.18
0.80-0.081750.00560.29-0.08-0.21
0.76-0.091800.00610.32-0.09-0.24
0.73-0.091850.00660.34-0.09-0.28
0.69-0.101900.00700.36-0.10-0.32
0.65-0.101950.00740.38-0.10-0.35
0.61-0.112000.00760.39-0.11-0.40
0.54-0.112100.00790.41-0.11-0.47
0.46-0.112200.00790.41-0.11-0.55
0.39-0.112300.00760.39-0.11-0.63
0.33-0.102400.00710.37-0.11-0.69
0.27-0.092500.00650.34-0.10-0.75
0.22-0.082600.00580.31-0.09-0.80
0.18-0.072700.00510.27-0.08-0.84
0.15-0.072800.00450.24-0.08-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot135190207.52252502852K0
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

spot7513518021024030028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 174K call contracts, 107K 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: TTWO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk