Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 4:54 AM ET

W max pain

Spot (delayed)$113.56
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$85-25.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.3±24.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.6242K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3075.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$775Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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 23$107-5.8%2d
Fri, Oct 30$108-4.9%9d
Fri, Nov 6$110-3.1%16d
Fri, Nov 13$109-4.0%23d
Fri, Nov 20$105-7.5%30d
Fri, Nov 27$110-3.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-18.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$85-25.1%86d
Fri, Feb 19$97.5-14.1%121d
Fri, Mar 19$100-11.9%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85134578110143175$206M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot8512.53557.5801051508K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)W 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

spot8512.53557.580105150371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot134578110143175202%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 6027.547.567.587.5115155+$735K−$735K
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
0.82-0.05900.00730.14-0.05-0.18
0.80-0.0592.50.00790.15-0.06-0.20
0.78-0.06950.00850.17-0.06-0.22
0.75-0.0697.50.00900.17-0.06-0.25
0.73-0.061000.00960.18-0.07-0.28
0.67-0.071050.01050.20-0.07-0.33
0.61-0.071100.01120.21-0.07-0.39
0.56-0.071150.01160.22-0.08-0.45
0.50-0.081200.01170.22-0.08-0.51
0.45-0.071250.01160.22-0.07-0.56
0.40-0.071300.01140.21-0.07-0.61
0.35-0.071350.01090.20-0.07-0.66
0.30-0.071400.01030.19-0.07-0.71
0.26-0.061450.00960.18-0.06-0.75
0.23-0.061500.00890.17-0.06-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 51 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6087971061151242K0
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

spot12.542.5709511315512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 82K call contracts, 117K 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: W workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk