Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:06 PM ET

Z max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.91
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35+9.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.45±23.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.295K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3068.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$35+9.7%24d
Fri, Dec 18$35+9.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$35+9.7%80d
Fri, Feb 19$32.5+1.8%115d
Fri, Mar 19$37.5+17.5%143d
Fri, May 21$30-6.0%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3518406385108130$97M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3517.53552.57087.51152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Z 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

spot3517.53552.57087.511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot18406385108130120%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 4517.53552.57087.5115+$36K−$36K
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
0.97-0.0017.50.00580.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01200.01030.02-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0122.50.01680.03-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01250.02500.04-0.01-0.16
0.77-0.0227.50.03380.05-0.02-0.24
0.66-0.02300.04120.06-0.02-0.34
0.55-0.0232.50.04540.06-0.02-0.46
0.45-0.02350.04550.06-0.02-0.57
0.35-0.0237.50.04230.06-0.02-0.67
0.27-0.02400.03730.05-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.0242.50.03180.04-0.02-0.82
0.16-0.01450.02660.04-0.01-0.87
0.13-0.0147.50.02200.03-0.01-0.91
0.10-0.01500.01820.03-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1532.55067.5851103K0
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

spot1532.55067.58510519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 61K call contracts, 34K 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: Z workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk