Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:53 AM ET

WSC max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.47
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$22.5+36.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.78±22.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.13761 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3071.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$17.5+6.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$20+21.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5+36.6%80d
Fri, Apr 16$17.5+6.3%171d
Fri, Jan 21$15-8.9%451d
Fri, Jan 19$12.5-24.1%815d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.581829395060$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot22.57.517.527.537.547.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WSC 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

spot22.57.517.527.537.547.555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81829395060192%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 107.517.527.537.547.5+$31K−$31K
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
0.98-0.007.50.00790.00-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.00100.02020.01-0.00-0.06
0.85-0.0112.50.04530.02-0.01-0.15
0.69-0.01150.07740.03-0.01-0.32
0.47-0.0117.50.08850.03-0.01-0.53
0.30-0.01200.07480.03-0.01-0.71
0.18-0.0122.50.05500.02-0.01-0.82
0.12-0.01250.03870.01-0.01-0.89
0.07-0.0027.50.02690.01-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.00300.01880.01-0.00-0.97
0.03-0.0032.50.01330.01-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.00350.00950.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5152535456032K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.542.55532K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 96K 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: WSC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk