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

AFRM max pain

Spot (delayed)$69.61
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$75+7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.7±19.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.1124K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$32.5largest put OI
IV3069.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$282Kper 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, 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

spot7523436484105125$76M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7522.537.552.567.582.51005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AFRM 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

spot7522.537.552.567.582.5100150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot23436484105125178%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 10022.537.552.567.582.5100+$334K−$334K
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
0.89-0.0352.50.01030.05-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.04550.01270.06-0.04-0.14
0.82-0.0457.50.01520.07-0.04-0.18
0.77-0.05600.01750.08-0.05-0.23
0.72-0.0562.50.01960.09-0.05-0.28
0.66-0.06650.02140.10-0.06-0.34
0.61-0.0667.50.02280.10-0.06-0.40
0.55-0.06700.02360.10-0.06-0.46
0.49-0.0672.50.02390.11-0.06-0.52
0.43-0.06750.02360.10-0.06-0.57
0.38-0.0677.50.02300.10-0.06-0.63
0.33-0.06800.02190.10-0.06-0.68
0.28-0.0582.50.02050.09-0.05-0.73
0.24-0.05850.01890.08-0.05-0.77
0.20-0.0487.50.01720.07-0.04-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. 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