Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:13 PM ET

AXTI max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.65
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60+5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.5±30.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8321K puts / 25K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV30112.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$95Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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$60+5.9%3d
Fri, Nov 6$65+14.7%10d
Fri, Nov 13$63+11.2%17d
Fri, Nov 20$60+5.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$70+23.6%31d
Fri, Dec 4$54-4.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$60+5.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$70+23.6%80d
Fri, Feb 19$45-20.6%115d
Fri, Mar 19$65+14.7%143d
Fri, Apr 16$55-2.9%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot602080140200260320$584M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6020508512015519012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AXTI 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

spot602050851201551901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2080140200260320359%92%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 90205085120155190+$508K−$508K
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
0.98-0.0022.50.00140.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01250.00200.01-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.02300.00390.02-0.02-0.05
0.91-0.03350.00660.03-0.04-0.09
0.85-0.05400.00970.05-0.05-0.14
0.78-0.06450.01280.06-0.06-0.22
0.70-0.07500.01540.07-0.07-0.30
0.61-0.08550.01700.08-0.08-0.39
0.53-0.08600.01770.09-0.08-0.47
0.45-0.08650.01760.09-0.08-0.56
0.37-0.08700.01680.08-0.08-0.63
0.31-0.07750.01560.08-0.07-0.69
0.26-0.07800.01420.07-0.07-0.74
0.21-0.06850.01270.06-0.06-0.79
0.18-0.06900.01130.06-0.05-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3051617181914K0
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

spot2054647812016519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 152K call contracts, 99K 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: AXTI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk