Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 3:51 PM ET

ADI max pain

Spot (delayed)$380.03
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$370-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$59.25±15.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.206K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$320largest put OI
IV3037.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $380

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 25$365-4.0%4d
Fri, Oct 2$365-4.0%11d
Fri, Oct 9$350-7.9%18d
Fri, Oct 16$370-2.6%25d
Fri, Oct 23$365-4.0%32d
Fri, Oct 30$385+1.3%39d
Fri, Nov 20$360-5.3%60d
Fri, Dec 18$370-2.6%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot370115220325430535640$675M$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 — 370 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot37011517024034044054011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ADI 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

spot370115170240340440540168168
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot115220325430535640124%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 380135190280380480580+$8.2M$8.2M
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
0.87-0.093100.00270.39-0.09-0.13
0.84-0.103200.00320.46-0.11-0.17
0.80-0.123300.00360.52-0.12-0.20
0.76-0.133400.00410.58-0.14-0.24
0.71-0.143500.00450.63-0.15-0.29
0.66-0.153600.00490.68-0.15-0.34
0.61-0.163700.00520.71-0.16-0.39
0.56-0.163800.00540.73-0.17-0.45
0.51-0.173900.00540.74-0.17-0.50
0.45-0.164000.00540.74-0.17-0.55
0.40-0.164100.00530.72-0.16-0.61
0.36-0.154200.00510.69-0.15-0.66
0.31-0.144300.00480.66-0.15-0.70
0.27-0.144400.00450.62-0.14-0.74
0.23-0.134500.00420.57-0.13-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 59 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2603453703904104501K0
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

spot19026034039547055013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 73K call contracts, 32K 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: ADI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk