Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:25 PM ET

ABBV max pain

Spot (delayed)$256
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$260+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.38±6.0% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.92377 puts / 410 calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$235largest put OI
IV3023.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$47Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 4$255-0.4%6d
Fri, Sep 11$250-2.3%13d
Fri, Sep 18$230-10.2%20d
Fri, Sep 25$250-2.3%27d
Fri, Oct 2$260+1.6%34d
Fri, Oct 9$245-4.3%41d
Fri, Oct 16$240-6.3%48d
Fri, Nov 20$240-6.3%83d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260150180210240270300$3M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot260150220240260280300147147
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABBV open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot2601502202402602803006262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot15018021024027030085%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 200150225245265285+$159K$159K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.042200.00440.09-0.04-0.06
0.93-0.042250.00580.11-0.04-0.07
0.90-0.052300.00770.14-0.05-0.10
0.87-0.062350.01030.17-0.07-0.14
0.81-0.082400.01340.22-0.08-0.19
0.74-0.092450.01650.26-0.09-0.27
0.65-0.102500.01910.29-0.10-0.36
0.55-0.112550.02060.31-0.11-0.46
0.44-0.112600.02080.31-0.11-0.57
0.34-0.102650.01960.29-0.10-0.67
0.26-0.092700.01720.26-0.09-0.76
0.18-0.072750.01410.21-0.07-0.84
0.12-0.052800.01090.17-0.06-0.91
0.09-0.042850.00820.13-0.05-0.95
0.06-0.032900.00600.10-0.03-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot95180235260282.533013K0
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

spot8514520524527532023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 145K call contracts, 113K 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: ABBV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk