Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:20 PM ET

UEC max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.79
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$9+15.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.94±24.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.2214K puts / 62K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3066.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$119Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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 30$9+15.5%3d
Fri, Nov 6$8.5+9.1%10d
Fri, Nov 13$8.5+9.1%17d
Fri, Nov 20$10+28.4%24d
Fri, Nov 27$9+15.5%31d
Fri, Dec 4$9+15.5%38d
Fri, Dec 18$8+2.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$9+15.5%80d
Fri, Feb 19$9+15.5%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot91815212835$122M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot9171319253214K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UEC 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

spot917131925322525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1815212835208%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 71713192532+$44K−$44K
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
1.00—10.00040.000.00-0.00
1.00—20.00250.000.00-0.00
0.990.0030.00860.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0040.02310.00-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.0050.05150.01-0.00-0.08
0.83-0.0060.09540.01-0.00-0.17
0.70-0.0170.14200.01-0.01-0.30
0.54-0.0180.16700.01-0.01-0.47
0.39-0.0190.16100.01-0.01-0.62
0.27-0.01100.13620.01-0.01-0.74
0.19-0.00110.10790.01-0.00-0.83
0.13-0.00120.08320.01-0.00-0.89
0.10-0.00130.06390.01-0.00-0.93
0.07-0.00140.04930.01-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.00150.03850.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot479.51214.5185K0
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

spot16.510.514.5202827K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 162K call contracts, 57K 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: UEC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk