Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 12:45 AM ET

AMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.7
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$2.5-7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.85±31.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3422K puts / 64K calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3074.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$75Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 25$2.5-7.4%5d
Fri, Oct 2$2.5-7.4%12d
Fri, Oct 9$2.5-7.4%19d
Fri, Oct 16$2.5-7.4%26d
Fri, Oct 23$2.5-7.4%33d
Fri, Oct 30$2-25.9%40d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-7.4%61d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-7.4%89d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.5123467$20M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2.50.523.55715K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMC 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

spot2.50.523.557790790
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot123467196%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 80.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1.50.523.557+$31K$31K
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
0.990.000.50.00730.000.00-0.01
0.980.0010.03500.000.00-0.02
0.93-0.001.50.10570.00-0.00-0.07
0.82-0.0020.22790.00-0.00-0.18
0.66-0.002.50.33200.01-0.00-0.35
0.49-0.0030.34860.01-0.00-0.52
0.37-0.003.50.31180.01-0.00-0.64
0.28-0.0040.26470.01-0.00-0.73
0.22-0.004.50.22260.00-0.00-0.79
0.18-0.0050.18830.00-0.00-0.83
0.15-0.005.50.16100.00-0.00-0.87
0.13-0.0060.13920.00-0.00-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.529K0
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

spot0.523.557108K108K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 608K call contracts, 166K 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: AMC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk