Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 10:24 PM ET

ABBV max pain

Spot (delayed)$284
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$240-15.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.45±9.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.6419K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3030.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 30usually before the open

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, Oct 16$255-10.2%2d
Fri, Oct 23$260-8.5%9d
Fri, Oct 30$265-6.7%16d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 30)
Fri, Nov 6$250-12.0%23d
Fri, Nov 13$250-12.0%30d
Fri, Nov 20$250-12.0%37d
Fri, Nov 27$270-4.9%44d
Fri, Dec 18$240-15.5%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240105156207258309360$259M$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot24010513516519525031013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABBV 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

spot240105135165195250310312312
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot110160210260310360110%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 200130160190240300360+$11.8M−$11.8M
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
0.98-0.012100.00120.07-0.02-0.02
0.96-0.022200.00190.10-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.032300.00290.14-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.042400.00440.20-0.05-0.09
0.85-0.062500.00630.28-0.06-0.15
0.78-0.082600.00840.35-0.08-0.22
0.68-0.092700.01040.42-0.10-0.32
0.57-0.102800.01160.47-0.10-0.44
0.45-0.102900.01190.47-0.10-0.56
0.34-0.093000.01120.44-0.10-0.68
0.24-0.083100.00960.37-0.08-0.78
0.16-0.063200.00760.30-0.07-0.87
0.10-0.043300.00560.22-0.04-0.94
0.07-0.033400.00400.16-0.03-0.98
0.04-0.023500.00270.11—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot130180235262.5282.5302.54K0
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

spot85150215257.529033525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 156K call contracts, 131K 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