Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 8:26 PM ET

WY max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$23+18.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.22±11.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.418K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3032.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

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$22+13.5%1d
Fri, Nov 20$18-7.1%36d
Fri, Dec 18$20+3.2%64d
Fri, Jan 15$23+18.7%92d
Fri, Apr 16$18-7.1%183d
Fri, Jul 16$20+3.2%274d
Fri, Oct 15$20+3.2%365d
Fri, Jan 21$20+3.2%463d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23141924303540$27M$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 — 23 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot231418222630377K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WY 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

spot231418222630374747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14192430354096%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 17141822263037+$79K−$79K
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
0.96-0.00140.02270.01-0.00-0.05
0.94-0.00150.03720.01-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.00160.05870.02-0.00-0.13
0.82-0.00170.08650.03-0.01-0.20
0.72-0.01180.11560.03-0.01-0.30
0.59-0.01190.13530.04-0.01-0.42
0.46-0.01200.13710.04-0.01-0.56
0.34-0.01210.12300.04-0.01-0.68
0.24-0.01220.10180.03-0.00-0.77
0.17-0.00230.08060.03-0.00-0.84
0.13-0.00240.06250.02-0.00-0.89
0.09-0.00250.04830.02-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.00260.03740.01-0.00-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1418222630343K0
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

spot5141924293410K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 66K call contracts, 25K 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: WY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk