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

APP max pain

Spot (delayed)$260.07
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$330+26.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.2±21.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.9022K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3081.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.3Mper 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 · 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$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

spot3301053065077089091110$1.3B$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3301051852703704707002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APP 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

spot330105185270370470700359359
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1053065077089091110179%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot105180250340430600+$460K−$460K
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
0.88-0.131950.00270.20-0.14-0.12
0.86-0.142000.00300.22-0.15-0.14
0.82-0.172100.00350.26-0.18-0.18
0.78-0.202200.00410.30-0.20-0.22
0.73-0.222300.00460.33-0.23-0.27
0.68-0.242400.00500.36-0.24-0.32
0.62-0.252500.00530.38-0.25-0.38
0.57-0.262600.00550.39-0.26-0.43
0.51-0.262700.00560.40-0.26-0.49
0.46-0.262800.00560.39-0.26-0.55
0.41-0.252900.00550.39-0.25-0.60
0.36-0.243000.00530.37-0.24-0.65
0.31-0.233100.00500.35-0.23-0.69
0.27-0.223200.00470.33-0.21-0.73
0.24-0.203300.00440.31-0.20-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 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