Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 9:04 PM ET

WTW max pain

Spot (delayed)$310.36
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$280-9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.5±10.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.76129 puts / 169 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$320largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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 16$290-6.6%1d
Fri, Nov 20$280-9.8%36d
Fri, Jan 15$280-9.8%92d
Fri, Apr 16$280-9.8%183d
Fri, May 21$200-35.6%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280140200260320380440$3M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2801401752302903504205555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WTW 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

spot28014017523029035042011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14020026032038044087%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 200140180240300360430+$46K−$46K
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
0.94-0.022400.00220.20-0.04-0.07
0.92-0.032500.00290.24-0.05-0.09
0.89-0.042600.00380.30-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.052700.00490.37-0.06-0.15
0.80-0.062800.00620.44-0.07-0.21
0.73-0.072900.00760.51-0.08-0.28
0.65-0.083000.00890.58-0.08-0.36
0.55-0.083100.00960.61-0.09-0.45
0.46-0.093200.00980.62-0.09-0.55
0.37-0.083300.00920.59-0.08-0.64
0.29-0.073400.00830.53-0.07-0.72
0.23-0.073500.00710.47-0.07-0.80
0.18-0.063600.00600.41-0.06-0.85
0.14-0.053700.00490.35-0.05-0.90
0.09-0.043900.00330.25-0.03-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1452503003504004504060
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

spot140180240320400480407407
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: WTW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk