Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:30 AM ET

ANET max pain

Spot (delayed)$187.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$180-4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.08±16.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0617K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3058.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$324Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

Event risk before this expiration: 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$182.5-2.7%2d
Fri, Nov 6$190+1.3%9d
Fri, Nov 13$190+1.3%16d
Fri, Nov 20$185-1.3%23d
Fri, Nov 27$180-4.0%30d
Fri, Dec 4$160-14.7%37d
Fri, Dec 18$180-4.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$135-28.0%79d
Fri, Mar 19$175-6.7%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18060110160210260310$166M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot18060951301652002702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ANET 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

spot1806095130165200270221221
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot60110160210260310168%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 25080110140170200260+$366K−$366K
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
0.88-0.071500.00500.14-0.08-0.13
0.84-0.091550.00590.17-0.09-0.16
0.81-0.101600.00680.19-0.10-0.19
0.77-0.111650.00770.22-0.12-0.23
0.72-0.121700.00850.24-0.13-0.28
0.68-0.131750.00920.25-0.13-0.33
0.63-0.141800.00980.27-0.14-0.38
0.58-0.141850.01020.28-0.14-0.43
0.53-0.141900.01040.28-0.15-0.48
0.47-0.141950.01040.28-0.14-0.53
0.42-0.142000.01030.28-0.14-0.58
0.33-0.132100.00960.26-0.13-0.68
0.26-0.122200.00850.23-0.12-0.76
0.19-0.102300.00720.19-0.10-0.82
0.14-0.082400.00580.16-0.08-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110157.5180202.52252552K0
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

spot3585117.515019024013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 156K call contracts, 152K 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: ANET workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk