Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 6:43 PM ET

UHS max pain

Spot (delayed)$174.36
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$155-11.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.25±12.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.22881 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3041.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$190+9.0%24d
Fri, Dec 18$180+3.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$155-11.1%80d
Fri, Apr 16$175+0.4%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15580114148182216250$29M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot155801101351601852202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UHS 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

spot155801101351601852206060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8011414818221625073%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9580110135160185220+$652K−$652K
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
0.91-0.031400.00510.14-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.041450.00640.17-0.04-0.12
0.84-0.041500.00790.20-0.05-0.16
0.80-0.051550.00950.23-0.05-0.20
0.75-0.061600.01110.26-0.06-0.26
0.69-0.061650.01260.29-0.06-0.32
0.62-0.071700.01370.31-0.07-0.39
0.55-0.071750.01440.32-0.07-0.46
0.48-0.071800.01460.33-0.07-0.54
0.41-0.071850.01430.32-0.07-0.61
0.34-0.061900.01350.30-0.06-0.68
0.29-0.061950.01240.28-0.06-0.74
0.24-0.052000.01120.25-0.05-0.79
0.16-0.042100.00860.20-0.04-0.87
0.11-0.032200.00630.15-0.04-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801201551802102K0
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

spot801101401702002602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: UHS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk