Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:33 AM ET

UPST max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.8
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$30+26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.27±26.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6642K puts / 64K calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3076.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$375Kper 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, Oct 30$24+0.8%5d
Fri, Nov 6$24+0.8%12d
Fri, Nov 13$26+9.2%19d
Fri, Nov 20$25+5.0%26d
Fri, Nov 27$23.5-1.3%33d
Fri, Dec 4$23.5-1.3%40d
Fri, Dec 18$27.5+15.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$30+26.1%82d
Fri, Feb 19$32.5+36.6%117d
Fri, Mar 19$25+5.0%145d
Fri, Apr 16$25+5.0%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3013376286111135$432M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3012.53047.56582.510510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UPST 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

spot3012.53047.56582.5105105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13376286111135179%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot12.53047.56582.5105+$270K−$270K
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
0.98-0.0012.50.00620.01-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.01150.01440.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.0117.50.02690.02-0.01-0.13
0.77-0.01200.03960.04-0.01-0.23
0.64-0.0222.50.04880.04-0.02-0.36
0.52-0.02250.05240.05-0.02-0.49
0.40-0.0227.50.05060.04-0.02-0.61
0.30-0.02300.04530.04-0.02-0.71
0.23-0.0132.50.03860.03-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.01350.03170.03-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.0137.50.02560.02-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01400.02060.02-0.01-0.93
0.07-0.0142.50.01660.02-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1320232629354K0
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

spot12.520.5273462.59514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 160K call contracts, 90K 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: UPST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk