Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 3:51 AM ET

ARM max pain

Spot (delayed)$231.03
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$195-15.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$52.8±22.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0889K puts / 82K calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3075.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$32Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $130

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 16$265+14.7%1d
Fri, Oct 23$272.5+18.0%8d
Fri, Oct 30$280+21.2%15d
Fri, Nov 6$270+16.9%22d
Fri, Nov 13$275+19.0%29d
Fri, Nov 20$270+16.9%36d
Fri, Nov 27$275+19.0%43d
Fri, Dec 18$195-15.6%64d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19543168294419545670$3.1B$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot19542.592.514520030042022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARM 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

spot19542.592.51452003004202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot43168294419545670165%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 13085125180250340490+$4.2M−$4.2M
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
0.88-0.101800.00300.21-0.11-0.13
0.86-0.111850.00340.23-0.12-0.15
0.83-0.121900.00370.25-0.13-0.17
0.81-0.131950.00400.27-0.14-0.19
0.79-0.142000.00440.29-0.15-0.21
0.73-0.162100.00490.33-0.17-0.27
0.68-0.182200.00540.36-0.18-0.33
0.62-0.192300.00570.38-0.20-0.39
0.56-0.202400.00590.40-0.20-0.45
0.50-0.202500.00600.40-0.20-0.51
0.45-0.202600.00590.40-0.20-0.56
0.39-0.202700.00570.39-0.20-0.61
0.35-0.192800.00550.37-0.19-0.66
0.30-0.182900.00510.35-0.18-0.71
0.27-0.173000.00480.33-0.17-0.74

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

spot85200257.5295332.54007K0
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

spot42.511518527036050034K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 419K call contracts, 492K 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: ARM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk