Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 3:44 AM ET

ACGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$96.98
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100+3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8±8.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.38710 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$275Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$95-2.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$95-2.0%38d
Fri, Dec 18$100+3.1%66d
Fri, Mar 19$95-2.0%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100658095110125140$6M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot100658095110125617617
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACGL 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

spot1006580951101254545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65809511012514073%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 80658095110125+$186K−$186K
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
0.98-0.00650.00250.02-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01700.00380.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01750.00600.04-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01800.00980.06-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.02850.01620.08-0.02-0.12
0.80-0.02900.02700.12-0.02-0.21
0.64-0.03950.04030.16-0.03-0.37
0.43-0.031000.04310.16-0.03-0.59
0.26-0.021050.03290.14-0.03-0.77
0.16-0.021100.02250.10-0.02-0.87
0.11-0.021150.01540.08-0.02-0.93
0.08-0.011200.01080.06-0.01-0.96
0.06-0.011250.00780.05-0.01-0.98
0.03-0.011400.00350.03-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55851001151402K0
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

spot5070901101301502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 4K 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: ACGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk