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

XENE max pain

Spot (delayed)$65
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$52.5-19.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.8±24.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.18508 puts / 429 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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 · 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, 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

spot52.52339567289105$1M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot52.522.537.547.5607090275275
■ 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

spot52.522.537.547.56070908080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot233956728910593%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 4522.542.552.56580105+$14K$14K
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
0.88-0.01450.00770.09-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.0147.50.00910.10-0.02-0.14
0.83-0.01500.01060.11-0.02-0.17
0.79-0.0252.50.01220.12-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02550.01390.13-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.02600.01690.15-0.02-0.32
0.63-0.0262.50.01810.16-0.02-0.37
0.58-0.02650.01910.17-0.02-0.42
0.53-0.0267.50.01960.17-0.03-0.47
0.49-0.02700.01990.17-0.02-0.52
0.40-0.02750.01930.16-0.02-0.61
0.32-0.02800.01790.15-0.02-0.69
0.25-0.02850.01590.14-0.02-0.77
0.20-0.02900.01380.12-0.01-0.82
0.16-0.02950.01180.10-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 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