Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:17 AM ET

ASMG max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40+9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.85±24.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI3.2258 puts / 18 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
IV3081.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 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, Nov 20$40+9.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$40+9.6%54d
Fri, Feb 19$40+9.6%117d
Fri, May 21$40+9.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40303438424650$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4030353943492020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASMG 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

spot40303539434922
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot30343842465082%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3035394349+$906−$906
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
0.78-0.03300.02780.04-0.03-0.22
0.67-0.04330.03260.05-0.04-0.32
0.63-0.04340.03370.05-0.04-0.36
0.60-0.04350.03440.05-0.04-0.39
0.53-0.04370.03510.06-0.04-0.46
0.49-0.04380.03500.06-0.04-0.49
0.46-0.04390.03470.06-0.04-0.53
0.43-0.04400.03420.06-0.04-0.56
0.37-0.04420.03260.05-0.04-0.61
0.34-0.04430.03160.05-0.04-0.64
0.32-0.04440.03060.05-0.04-0.66
0.30-0.04450.02940.05-0.04-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2035414858751240
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

spot203342516069133133
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 700 call contracts, 576 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: ASMG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk