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

XPO max pain

Spot (delayed)$187.92
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$165-12.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.7±15.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.723K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3045.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$100Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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$190+1.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$180-4.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$165-12.2%79d
Fri, Feb 19$175-6.9%114d
Fri, Mar 19$190+1.1%142d
Fri, May 21$175-6.9%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16548104161217274330$22M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot16547.5851201602002802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XPO 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

spot16547.58512016020028011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot48104161217274330161%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 8047.590125165210290+$233K−$233K
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
0.84-0.061550.00580.21-0.06-0.16
0.81-0.061600.00670.24-0.07-0.19
0.77-0.071650.00760.26-0.07-0.23
0.73-0.071700.00860.29-0.08-0.27
0.69-0.081750.00950.31-0.08-0.31
0.64-0.081800.01030.33-0.09-0.36
0.58-0.091850.01090.34-0.09-0.42
0.53-0.091900.01130.35-0.09-0.48
0.47-0.091950.01140.35-0.09-0.53
0.41-0.082000.01120.34-0.08-0.59
0.32-0.082100.01020.31-0.08-0.69
0.24-0.072200.00880.27-0.07-0.78
0.18-0.062300.00720.23-0.06-0.84
0.13-0.052400.00580.19-0.05-0.89
0.10-0.042500.00460.16-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.5901251652102901K0
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

spot47.587.51201652203104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 10K 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: XPO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk