Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:18 PM ET

UAE max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.05
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-21.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.95±10.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0529 puts / 539 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move

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$17-10.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$16-16.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$15-21.3%82d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15151719202224$1M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot151517192124182182
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UAE 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

spot15151719212411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16181921222448%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1517192124+$7K−$7K
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
0.89-0.01150.06690.01-0.01-0.14
0.85-0.01160.09050.02-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01170.12430.03-0.01-0.26
0.66-0.01180.16180.03-0.01-0.36
0.49-0.01190.16760.04-0.01-0.51
0.35-0.01200.13500.03-0.01-0.63
0.27-0.01210.10390.03-0.01-0.70
0.19-0.01230.06690.03-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.01240.05610.02-0.01-0.81

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

spot15171921241820
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

spot91317212529216216
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 551 call contracts, 484 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: UAE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk