Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 10:04 AM ET

AKAM max pain

Spot (delayed)$99.85
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.15±19.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.499K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3071.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

Event risk before this expiration: 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$97-2.9%2d
Fri, Nov 6$100+0.2%9d
Fri, Nov 13$95-4.9%16d
Fri, Nov 20$105+5.2%23d
Fri, Nov 27$93-6.9%30d
Fri, Dec 4$91-8.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$100+0.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$100+0.2%79d
Fri, Feb 19$95-4.9%114d
Fri, Mar 19$105+5.2%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1004080120160200240$218M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10040751101451802303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AKAM 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

spot1004075110145180230102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4080120160200240144%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1154075110145180230+$404K−$404K
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
0.95-0.02650.00340.04-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.03700.00510.05-0.04-0.07
0.89-0.04750.00710.07-0.05-0.11
0.84-0.06800.00940.09-0.06-0.16
0.78-0.07850.01160.11-0.07-0.22
0.71-0.08900.01360.13-0.08-0.29
0.63-0.09950.01520.14-0.09-0.37
0.55-0.091000.01600.15-0.09-0.45
0.47-0.091050.01630.15-0.09-0.53
0.40-0.091100.01580.14-0.09-0.61
0.33-0.081150.01490.14-0.08-0.68
0.27-0.071200.01360.12-0.07-0.74
0.21-0.071250.01210.11-0.07-0.79
0.17-0.061300.01050.10-0.06-0.84
0.14-0.051350.00900.08-0.05-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7090991081171272K0
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

spot508110012516020021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 185K call contracts, 130K 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: AKAM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk