Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 9, 10:04 AM ET

AZN max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.64
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$160+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.9±11.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.17442 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3032.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$976Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$165+3.4%7d
Fri, Nov 20$165+3.4%42d
Fri, Dec 18$160+0.2%70d
Fri, Jan 15$170+6.5%98d
Fri, Feb 19$170+6.5%133d
Fri, Mar 19$160+0.2%161d
Fri, Apr 16$165+3.4%189d
Fri, May 21$145-9.2%224d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot160105126147168189210$12M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1601051301501701902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AZN 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

spot1601051301501701906060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10512614716818921045%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 160105130150170190+$914K−$914K
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
0.95-0.011250.00420.08-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.011300.00590.10-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.021350.00800.14-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.031400.01050.17-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.041450.01300.21-0.05-0.23
0.70-0.051500.01520.24-0.06-0.30
0.62-0.061550.01690.27-0.06-0.39
0.53-0.061600.01770.28-0.06-0.48
0.44-0.061650.01770.28-0.06-0.57
0.36-0.061700.01680.26-0.06-0.66
0.29-0.051750.01530.24-0.05-0.73
0.22-0.051800.01340.21-0.04-0.80
0.17-0.041850.01130.18-0.04-0.86
0.13-0.031900.00930.15-0.03-0.91
0.10-0.031950.00750.12-0.02-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11014517019524029021K0
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

spot8011014017020026025K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 61K call contracts, 32K 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: AZN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk