Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:46 PM ET

APP max pain

Spot (delayed)$260.07
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$260-0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.55±19.8% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI1.5162 puts / 41 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$245largest put OI
IV3081.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 1% move

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$280+7.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$280+7.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$285+9.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$300+15.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$295+13.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$260-0.0%39d
Fri, Dec 18$330+26.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$320+23.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$320+23.0%116d
Fri, Mar 19$300+15.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260170217264311358405$1M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot2601702302502752953452424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APP open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot2601702302502752953451010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot17021726431135840585%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot170230250275295345+$8K−$8K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.242200.00430.25-0.25-0.21
0.73-0.272300.00490.28-0.28-0.26
0.71-0.292350.00520.29-0.29-0.29
0.68-0.302400.00540.30-0.30-0.32
0.65-0.312450.00560.32-0.31-0.35
0.62-0.322500.00580.32-0.32-0.38
0.59-0.322550.00590.33-0.33-0.41
0.56-0.332600.00600.34-0.33-0.44
0.50-0.332700.00610.34-0.33-0.50
0.47-0.332750.00610.34-0.33-0.53
0.44-0.322800.00610.34-0.33-0.56
0.41-0.322850.00600.33-0.32-0.59
0.39-0.312900.00590.33-0.31-0.62
0.36-0.302950.00580.32-0.30-0.64
0.33-0.303000.00560.31-0.30-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot200252.5277.53053554102K0
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

spot10019528541056075034K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 197K call contracts, 196K 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: APP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk