Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

AMZZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.3
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$35+11.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.48±23.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.48355 puts / 732 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$43largest put OI
IV3084.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$34+8.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$35+11.8%54d
Fri, Mar 19$20-36.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$24-23.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152433425160$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35152833384360405405
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMZZ 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

spot3515283338436066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot152433425160126%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 20152833384360+$14K−$14K
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
0.93-0.01200.01230.02-0.01-0.07
0.81-0.02250.02750.03-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.03260.03080.04-0.03-0.22
0.74-0.03270.03390.04-0.03-0.26
0.70-0.03280.03680.04-0.03-0.30
0.66-0.03290.03930.04-0.03-0.34
0.62-0.03300.04130.05-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.03310.04270.05-0.03-0.42
0.54-0.03320.04360.05-0.03-0.47
0.49-0.03330.04390.05-0.03-0.51
0.45-0.03340.04370.05-0.03-0.55
0.41-0.03350.04300.05-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.03360.04190.05-0.03-0.63
0.34-0.03370.04050.04-0.03-0.67
0.31-0.03380.03880.04-0.03-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1527323742554610
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

spot152632384450461461
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: AMZZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk