Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:02 AM ET

AAON max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.85
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$80+16.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.35±22.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.81324 puts / 399 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3084.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1Kper 1% move

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$70+1.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$80+16.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90+30.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$90+30.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$75+8.9%172d
Fri, Oct 15$65-5.6%354d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot804074108142176210$4M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot80406590115140200135135
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAON open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot8040659011514020055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4074108142176210160%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot406590115140200+$10K−$10K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.03400.00410.03-0.03-0.05
0.92-0.03450.00630.04-0.03-0.08
0.87-0.04500.00910.06-0.04-0.13
0.81-0.05550.01250.07-0.05-0.19
0.73-0.06600.01600.09-0.06-0.27
0.64-0.07650.01880.10-0.07-0.36
0.54-0.07700.02040.11-0.07-0.46
0.44-0.07750.02040.11-0.07-0.56
0.35-0.06800.01910.10-0.07-0.65
0.28-0.06850.01710.09-0.06-0.72
0.22-0.05900.01490.08-0.05-0.78
0.18-0.05950.01280.07-0.05-0.83
0.14-0.041000.01080.06-0.04-0.86
0.12-0.041050.00920.05-0.04-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50751001251501751K0
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

spot40701001301601901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K 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: AAON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk