Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:12 AM ET

AMGN max pain

Spot (delayed)$442.86
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$400-9.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.83±9.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.839K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$275largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $440

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$415-6.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$420-5.2%11d
Fri, Nov 13$435-1.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$400-9.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$420-5.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$450+1.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$400-9.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$380-14.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$410-7.4%144d
Fri, Apr 16$420-5.2%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot400220281342403464525$107M$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 — 400 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4002202953404104555052K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMGN 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

spot4002202953404104555057575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot22028134240346452599%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 440220295340410455505+$1.9M−$1.9M
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
0.73-0.174100.00600.56-0.17-0.28
0.70-0.184150.00640.60-0.18-0.31
0.67-0.184200.00670.62-0.18-0.34
0.63-0.194250.00700.65-0.19-0.38
0.60-0.194300.00720.66-0.19-0.41
0.56-0.194350.00730.67-0.20-0.45
0.52-0.204400.00740.68-0.20-0.48
0.49-0.194450.00740.68-0.20-0.52
0.45-0.194500.00740.68-0.19-0.56
0.41-0.194550.00730.67-0.19-0.59
0.38-0.184600.00710.65-0.18-0.63
0.35-0.184650.00690.63-0.18-0.66
0.31-0.174700.00660.61-0.17-0.70
0.28-0.164750.00640.58-0.16-0.73
0.26-0.154800.00600.55-0.15-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot350400420440460487.53010
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

spot1802853403954405005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 59K call contracts, 57K 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: AMGN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk