Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:25 PM ET

ACWI max pain

Spot (delayed)$156.8
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$145-7.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25±15.9% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.45266 puts / 592 calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3015.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$107Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$160+2.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$158+0.8%54d
Fri, Jan 15$148-5.6%82d
Fri, Apr 16$150-4.3%173d
Fri, Dec 17$145-7.5%418d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14580101122143164185$2M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot14580130145160175282282
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACWI open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot145801301451601756464
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot8010112214316418537%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 12580130145160175+$85K−$85K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.001200.00420.29-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.001250.00500.34-0.01-0.13
0.86-0.011300.00600.37-0.01-0.15
0.83-0.011350.00720.43-0.01-0.18
0.79-0.011400.00840.48-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.011450.00980.52-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.011500.01120.57-0.01-0.33
0.64-0.011550.01260.61-0.01-0.40
0.58-0.011600.01370.64-0.01-0.48
0.51-0.011650.01440.66-0.01-0.57
0.45-0.011700.01460.65-0.01-0.66
0.38-0.011750.01430.63-0.01-0.76
0.32-0.011800.01350.58-0.01-0.84
0.26-0.011850.01230.54-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601071221401561642890
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

spot60105122140151163471471
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 3K 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: ACWI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk