Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 12:04 AM ET

XENE max pain

Spot (delayed)$65
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$50-23.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.05±17.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.02216 puts / 10K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$478Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$67.5+3.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$55-15.4%32d
Fri, Oct 16$50-23.1%60d
Fri, Dec 18$50-23.1%123d
Fri, Jan 15$52.5-19.2%151d
Fri, Jan 21$55-15.4%522d
Fri, Dec 15$55-15.4%851d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot502339567289105$16M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot5022.54052.567.5809K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XENE open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot5022.54052.567.5804949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2339567289105184%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 5022.54052.567.580+$461K$461K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02450.00760.04-0.02-0.09
0.90-0.0247.50.00940.05-0.03-0.10
0.87-0.03500.01160.06-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.0352.50.01430.07-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.03550.01730.08-0.03-0.20
0.70-0.04600.02410.10-0.04-0.30
0.64-0.0462.50.02720.10-0.04-0.37
0.57-0.04650.02960.11-0.04-0.44
0.49-0.0467.50.03070.11-0.04-0.52
0.42-0.04700.03040.11-0.04-0.59
0.35-0.0472.50.02890.10-0.04-0.66
0.29-0.03750.02650.09-0.03-0.73
0.24-0.0377.50.02370.09-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.03800.02090.08-0.03-0.82
0.13-0.02850.01570.06-0.02-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355062.5759010K0
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

spot2032.54557.5708510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 6K 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: XENE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk