Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 5:08 PM ET

AMAT max pain

Spot (delayed)$395.03
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$420+6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$66.28±16.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.4945K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$520largest call OI
Put wall$340largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7.4Mper 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 · 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$400+1.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$435+10.1%10d
Fri, Nov 13$450+13.9%17d
Fri, Nov 20$450+13.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$465+17.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$420+6.3%38d
Fri, Dec 18$420+6.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$370-6.3%80d
Fri, Feb 19$480+21.5%115d
Fri, Mar 19$490+24.0%143d
Fri, Apr 16$480+21.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot420652524396268131000$1.5B$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 — 420 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot420651802603604606103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMAT 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

spot42065180260360460610136136
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot652524396268131000182%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot175240330420520700+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.83-0.193300.00290.38-0.20-0.17
0.80-0.223400.00330.42-0.23-0.20
0.76-0.243500.00370.47-0.25-0.24
0.71-0.263600.00410.51-0.27-0.29
0.67-0.283700.00440.54-0.29-0.33
0.62-0.293800.00460.57-0.30-0.38
0.58-0.303900.00480.58-0.31-0.43
0.53-0.314000.00480.59-0.31-0.48
0.48-0.314100.00480.59-0.31-0.52
0.43-0.304200.00480.59-0.31-0.57
0.39-0.304300.00470.57-0.30-0.61
0.35-0.294400.00450.55-0.28-0.66
0.31-0.274500.00430.53-0.27-0.70
0.27-0.264600.00400.50-0.25-0.73
0.24-0.244700.00380.47-0.24-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot280365402.54505155904K0
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

spot8017028039552071017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 225K call contracts, 328K 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: AMAT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk