Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:37 PM ET

AFL max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.93
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$115-4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.1±6.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.241K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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, Oct 30$116-4.1%3d
Fri, Nov 6$116-4.1%10d
Fri, Nov 13$115-4.9%17d
Fri, Nov 20$120-0.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$123+1.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$123+1.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$115-4.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$115-4.9%80d
Fri, Feb 19$105-13.2%115d
Fri, Mar 19$125+3.4%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot115557595115135155$13M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11555901051201351502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AFL 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

spot115559010512013515022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot809511012514015563%17%
— 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 1205590105120135150+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.98-0.00850.00210.02-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.01900.00330.03-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01950.00510.04-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.021000.00810.06-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.021050.01280.08-0.02-0.10
0.84-0.031100.02020.11-0.03-0.17
0.73-0.031150.03040.15-0.04-0.27
0.56-0.041200.04000.18-0.04-0.45
0.36-0.031250.03990.17-0.03-0.66
0.20-0.031300.02920.13-0.02-0.82
0.11-0.021350.01830.09-0.01-0.91
0.06-0.011400.01110.06-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.011450.00680.04-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.011500.00430.030.00-0.99
0.01-0.001550.00280.02—-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 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801091141191241292380
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

spot50991091191291559K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 22K 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: AFL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk