Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:24 PM ET

AEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$130.27
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120-7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.7±6.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.823K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3023.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$783Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$125-4.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$120-7.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$120-7.9%81d
Fri, Feb 19$120-7.9%116d
Fri, Mar 19$115-11.7%144d
Fri, May 21$120-7.9%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206086112138164190$22M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12060901101301501702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AEP 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

spot120609011013015017011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot709411814216619085%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1006090110130150170+$355K−$355K
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
0.99-0.00950.00220.01-0.01-0.03
0.98-0.011000.00320.02-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.011050.00490.03-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.011100.00820.04-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.021150.01450.07-0.02-0.10
0.83-0.031200.02340.13-0.03-0.19
0.69-0.041250.03130.17-0.04-0.32
0.52-0.041300.03600.20-0.04-0.49
0.34-0.041350.03420.18-0.04-0.68
0.19-0.031400.02630.14-0.03-0.84
0.10-0.021450.01640.09-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.011500.01020.06-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.011550.00710.05-0.00-0.98
0.04-0.011600.00540.04-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.011650.00420.03-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901101351601905K0
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

spot50801051351651956K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 18K 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: AEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk