Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:09 AM ET

UBRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.16
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12-1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.43±28.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.16137 puts / 844 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3073.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 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$12-1.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$13+6.9%54d
Fri, Jan 15$12-1.3%82d
Fri, Apr 16$10-17.8%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1251015202530$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1251014182230222222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UBRL 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

spot12510141822302121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51015202530164%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51014182230+$3K−$3K
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
0.96-0.0050.01170.01-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.0170.02680.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0180.03870.01-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.0190.05380.01-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.01100.07070.02-0.01-0.24
0.67-0.01110.08620.02-0.01-0.33
0.58-0.01120.09580.02-0.01-0.43
0.49-0.01130.09780.02-0.01-0.52
0.40-0.01140.09350.02-0.01-0.60
0.34-0.01150.08590.02-0.01-0.68
0.28-0.01160.07720.02-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01170.06880.02-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01180.06110.02-0.01-0.81
0.18-0.01190.05420.01-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot510141822303630
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

spot49141924469469
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 407 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: UBRL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk