Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:16 PM ET

AFRM max pain

Spot (delayed)$69.61
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$72+3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.98±17.2% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI4.8634 puts / 7 calls
Call wall$69largest call OI
Put wall$71largest put OI
IV3069.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$75+7.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$75+7.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$70+0.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$75+7.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$73+4.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$72+3.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$75+7.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$65-6.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$70+0.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$77.5+11.3%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot72646873778286$1M$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 — 72 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot7264687072758588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AFRM open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot7264687072758533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot64687377828671%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot646870727585+$1K−$1K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.69-0.07640.02260.08-0.07-0.31
0.67-0.07650.02350.08-0.07-0.33
0.59-0.07680.02560.09-0.08-0.41
0.56-0.08690.02600.09-0.08-0.44
0.54-0.08700.02630.09-0.08-0.46
0.51-0.08710.02650.09-0.08-0.49
0.49-0.08720.02660.09-0.08-0.52
0.46-0.08730.02660.09-0.08-0.54
0.41-0.07750.02610.09-0.07-0.59
0.30-0.07800.02340.08-0.07-0.71
0.21-0.05850.01930.07-0.05-0.80
0.19-0.05860.01840.06-0.05-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5062697683902K0
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

spot17.552.565778810511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 103K call contracts, 131K 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: AFRM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk