Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:29 PM ET

APD max pain

Spot (delayed)$308.22
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$290-5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.25±8.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.312K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3029.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $310

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$290-5.9%28d
Fri, Dec 18$290-5.9%56d
Fri, Jan 15$260-15.6%84d
Fri, Mar 19$300-2.7%147d
Thu, Jun 17$290-5.9%237d
Fri, Sep 17$280-9.2%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290135196257318379440$58M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2901351852302903504103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APD 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

spot2901351852302903504104545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot150208266324382440101%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 310160195250310370430+$2.2M−$2.2M
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
0.96-0.012400.00180.10-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.022500.00260.14-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.042600.00370.19-0.06-0.09
0.88-0.052700.00520.25-0.07-0.13
0.82-0.072800.00710.32-0.08-0.18
0.74-0.092900.00920.39-0.10-0.26
0.64-0.103000.01120.46-0.11-0.36
0.52-0.113100.01240.48-0.11-0.48
0.40-0.103200.01230.47-0.10-0.61
0.29-0.093300.01090.42-0.09-0.73
0.20-0.083400.00880.35-0.07-0.82
0.14-0.063500.00680.28-0.06-0.89
0.10-0.053600.00510.21-0.04-0.94
0.07-0.043700.00370.16-0.01-0.98
0.05-0.033800.00280.13-0.08-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1352002603203804403K0
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

spot1201602002803604403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 7K 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: APD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk