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

AEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$189.3
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$185-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.55±8.7% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.70263 puts / 377 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3042.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$71Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $155

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — 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

spot185145165185205225245$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot1851451651852052259898
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AEM open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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, Nov 6

spot1851451651852052252929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot14516518520522524563%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 155145165185205225+$53K−$53K
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, Nov 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.041550.00460.05-0.05-0.05
0.92-0.061600.00650.07-0.07-0.08
0.89-0.091650.00900.09-0.09-0.12
0.83-0.111700.01190.12-0.12-0.17
0.77-0.141750.01500.14-0.14-0.24
0.68-0.161800.01760.17-0.17-0.32
0.59-0.181850.01930.18-0.18-0.42
0.49-0.181900.01970.18-0.18-0.52
0.40-0.181950.01890.18-0.18-0.61
0.31-0.162000.01710.16-0.16-0.69
0.24-0.152050.01480.14-0.14-0.77
0.18-0.132100.01240.12-0.12-0.82
0.14-0.112150.01020.10-0.10-0.87
0.10-0.092200.00810.08-0.08-0.91
0.08-0.072250.00640.07-0.06-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 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