Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:21 AM ET

WVE max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.19
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$4+25.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.63±50.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.03527 puts / 17K calls
Call wall$6largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV30139.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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$4+25.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$5+56.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$4+25.4%81d
Fri, Apr 16$4+25.4%172d
Thu, Jun 17$3-6.0%234d
Fri, Jan 21$3-6.0%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4159141822$24M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot413610176K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WVE 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

spot413610171010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot159141822290%102%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 139.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1.51361017+$10K−$10K
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
0.97-0.0010.02940.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.001.50.06300.00-0.00-0.07
0.86-0.0020.11300.00-0.00-0.14
0.77-0.002.50.16360.01-0.00-0.23
0.67-0.0030.19520.01-0.00-0.34
0.57-0.003.50.20610.01-0.01-0.44
0.49-0.0140.20390.01-0.01-0.52
0.36-0.0150.18320.01-0.01-0.65
0.28-0.0060.15790.01-0.00-0.74
0.22-0.0070.13460.01-0.00-0.80
0.17-0.0080.11470.00-0.00-0.85
0.14-0.0090.09810.00-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1471218309K0
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

spot0.53.5713203510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 42K call contracts, 4K 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: WVE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk