Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 10:03 AM ET

AEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$189.3
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$187.5-1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.85±7.3% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.51569 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3042.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$269Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $195

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$180-4.9%today
Fri, Oct 23$185-2.3%7d
Fri, Oct 30$187.5-1.0%14d
Fri, Nov 6$185-2.3%21d
Fri, Nov 13$185-2.3%28d
Fri, Nov 20$185-2.3%35d
Fri, Nov 27$175-7.6%42d
Fri, Dec 18$185-2.3%63d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot187.5145174203232261290$9M$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 — 187.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot187.5145172.5187.5202.5225255267267
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AEM open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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 30

spot187.5145172.5187.5202.52252551515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot145174203232261290113%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 195145172.5187.5202.5225255+$181K−$181K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.14172.50.01420.10-0.14-0.17
0.80-0.161750.01640.11-0.16-0.21
0.75-0.18177.50.01850.12-0.18-0.25
0.70-0.191800.02040.13-0.20-0.30
0.65-0.21182.50.02190.14-0.21-0.35
0.59-0.221850.02300.15-0.22-0.41
0.53-0.22187.50.02350.15-0.23-0.47
0.47-0.231900.02340.15-0.23-0.53
0.42-0.22192.50.02290.15-0.22-0.59
0.36-0.211950.02190.14-0.21-0.64
0.31-0.20197.50.02060.14-0.20-0.69
0.27-0.192000.01900.13-0.19-0.74
0.23-0.17202.50.01730.12-0.17-0.78
0.19-0.162050.01550.10-0.16-0.81
0.14-0.132100.01210.08-0.12-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot80145180207.52453202K0
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

spot40105155187.522028011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 92K call contracts, 63K 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: AEM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk