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

WY max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$20+3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.73±29.5% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.112K puts / 18K calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3032.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$284Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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

spot20152025303540$25M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot201520253035407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WY open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot201520253035402323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot15202530354039%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 20152025303540+$143K−$143K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.00150.03770.06-0.00-0.19
0.67-0.00180.05540.07-0.00-0.34
0.56-0.00200.06130.08-0.00-0.46
0.45-0.00220.06110.08-0.00-0.57
0.32-0.00250.05370.07-0.00-0.72
0.25-0.00270.04700.07-0.00-0.80
0.18-0.00300.03760.060.00-0.89
0.15-0.00320.03220.05—-0.93
0.11-0.00350.02550.04—-0.98
0.09-0.00370.02190.04-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 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