Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:24 AM ET

XENE max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.1
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$40+10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.25±22.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.15652 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3054.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$175Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$37.5+3.9%23d
Fri, Dec 18$35-3.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$40+10.8%79d
Fri, Apr 16$37.5+3.9%170d
Fri, Jan 21$40+10.8%450d
Fri, Dec 15$35-3.0%779d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot402339567289105$26M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4022.53547.562.5803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XENE 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

spot4022.53547.562.5801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2339567289105147%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 32.522.53547.562.580+$183K−$183K
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
0.92-0.0122.50.01030.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01250.01470.03-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.0227.50.02040.04-0.02-0.15
0.78-0.02300.02730.05-0.02-0.21
0.70-0.0232.50.03450.06-0.02-0.30
0.60-0.02350.04020.07-0.02-0.40
0.50-0.0237.50.04250.07-0.02-0.50
0.40-0.02400.04120.07-0.02-0.60
0.32-0.0242.50.03740.06-0.02-0.68
0.26-0.02450.03270.05-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.0247.50.02810.05-0.02-0.80
0.17-0.02500.02400.04-0.02-0.84
0.14-0.0152.50.02050.04-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot203547.560751006K0
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

spot17.532.547.562.577.51056K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 2K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk