Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:28 AM ET

XEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.05
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$70-10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.75±17.6% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI1.681K puts / 680 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3024.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$42Kper 1% move

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$75-3.9%26d
Fri, Dec 18$75-3.9%54d
Fri, Jan 15$80+2.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$75-3.9%145d
Thu, Jun 17$70-10.3%235d
Fri, Sep 17$70-10.3%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7035526986103120$4M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot703555657585120933933
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 17.

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, Sep 17

spot70355565758512011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot3552698610312067%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot3555657585120+$45K−$45K
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, Sep 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99—350.00120.02-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.00500.00510.09-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01550.00710.12-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01600.00980.15-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.01650.01330.19-0.01-0.20
0.73-0.01700.01740.24-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.01750.02120.27-0.01-0.37
0.53-0.01800.02360.28-0.01-0.49
0.42-0.01850.02350.28-0.01-0.61
0.32-0.01900.02140.26-0.01-0.71
0.08-0.001200.00720.11-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot506577.5851001156K0
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

spot3547.567.58010068K68K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 189K 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: XEL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk