Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 1:10 AM ET

UTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.58
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20-2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.88±23.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.05313 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$42.5largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3064.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$22.5+9.3%34d
Fri, Dec 18$30+45.8%62d
Fri, Jan 15$20-2.8%90d
Fri, Apr 16$22.5+9.3%181d
Fri, Dec 17$22.5+9.3%426d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20132436475970$17M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2012.522.532.542.552.5704K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UTI 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

spot2012.522.532.542.552.57033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot132436475970115%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2012.522.532.542.552.570+$17K−$17K
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
0.94-0.0112.50.01580.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.01150.03000.02-0.01-0.13
0.76-0.0117.50.04830.03-0.01-0.24
0.61-0.01200.06350.04-0.01-0.39
0.45-0.0122.50.06710.04-0.01-0.56
0.31-0.01250.05960.04-0.01-0.70
0.22-0.0127.50.04780.03-0.01-0.80
0.15-0.01300.03690.02-0.01-0.87
0.11-0.0132.50.02830.02-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.01350.02190.02-0.01-0.95
0.06-0.0137.50.01720.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot12.522.532.542.552.5654K0
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

spot2.51527.54052.5704K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 5K 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: UTI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk