Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 8:29 PM ET

WM max pain

Spot (delayed)$239.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$210-12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.45±8.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.553K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3024.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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$220-8.1%28d
Fri, Dec 18$210-12.3%56d
Fri, Jan 15$210-12.3%84d
Fri, Mar 19$220-8.1%147d
Fri, Apr 16$200-16.5%175d
Thu, Jun 17$210-12.3%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210105154203252301350$64M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2101051351651952503101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WM 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

spot210105135165195250310116116
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10515420325230135088%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 230130155180210260310+$692K−$692K
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
0.97-0.011850.00180.07-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.011900.00240.09-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.021950.00320.12-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.022000.00410.15-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.032100.00680.22-0.03-0.12
0.81-0.042200.01020.32-0.04-0.20
0.69-0.052300.01390.41-0.06-0.32
0.53-0.062400.01590.46-0.06-0.48
0.38-0.062500.01530.44-0.06-0.64
0.25-0.052600.01260.37-0.05-0.77
0.16-0.042700.00940.28-0.04-0.86
0.10-0.032800.00660.21-0.03-0.92
0.06-0.022900.00450.15-0.03-0.97
0.04-0.013000.00300.11-0.01-0.99
0.03-0.013100.00210.08—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051351651952503103K0
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

spot1001351702102803505K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 13K 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: WM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk