Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 2:56 AM ET

B max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$30-25.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.25±13.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.4356K puts / 129K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3041.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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 23$41+1.6%3d
Fri, Oct 30$40-0.9%10d
Fri, Nov 6$41+1.6%17d
Fri, Nov 13$41+1.6%24d
Fri, Nov 20$40-0.9%31d
Fri, Nov 27$40-0.9%38d
Fri, Dec 18$30-25.7%59d
Fri, Jan 15$30-25.7%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3052035506580$517M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot305223138456034K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)B 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

spot3052231384560357357
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot132640536780121%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 22152733394555+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.91-0.01330.02440.03-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01340.03040.03-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.01350.03690.04-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.01360.04340.05-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.02370.04970.05-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02380.05510.06-0.02-0.31
0.64-0.02390.05920.06-0.02-0.37
0.58-0.02400.06180.06-0.02-0.43
0.52-0.02410.06270.07-0.02-0.49
0.46-0.02420.06200.07-0.02-0.56
0.40-0.02430.05990.06-0.02-0.61
0.34-0.02440.05680.06-0.02-0.67
0.30-0.02450.05290.06-0.02-0.71
0.26-0.02460.04850.05-0.02-0.76
0.22-0.02470.04400.05-0.02-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3037.540.543.547532K0
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

spot3233440.545.55573K73K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 428K call contracts, 301K 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: B workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk