Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:46 PM ET

AMDG max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.25
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-56.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.85±33.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2234 puts / 158 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV30120.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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, Nov 20$110+19.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$40-56.6%54d
Fri, Mar 19$50-45.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$100+8.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40205794131168205$2M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot402060951251551903030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMDG 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

spot4020609512515519011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot205794131168205219%104%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 109.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 222060100130160195+$2K−$2K
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
0.93-0.05500.00300.04-0.05-0.07
0.91-0.06550.00380.06-0.06-0.09
0.88-0.08600.00480.07-0.07-0.12
0.84-0.09650.00580.09-0.09-0.16
0.80-0.10700.00680.10-0.10-0.20
0.70-0.12800.00860.12-0.12-0.29
0.66-0.13850.00920.13-0.13-0.34
0.61-0.14900.00970.14-0.14-0.39
0.56-0.14950.01000.14-0.14-0.44
0.51-0.141000.01010.14-0.14-0.49
0.46-0.141050.01000.14-0.14-0.53
0.42-0.141100.00990.14-0.14-0.57
0.38-0.131150.00960.14-0.13-0.61
0.34-0.131200.00930.13-0.13-0.65
0.31-0.121250.00890.13-0.12-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2085106125140180590
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

spot20831011151351855959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 322 call contracts, 144 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: AMDG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk