Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 10:33 PM ET

BELFB max pain

Spot (delayed)$199.51
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$200+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.6±19.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1056 puts / 544 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3063.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$106Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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$230+15.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$200+0.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$300+50.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$170-14.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$110-44.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20095164233302371440$9M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20095135175220280340138138
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BELFB 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

spot2009513517522028034011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot95164233302371440163%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 11595150195250310420+$37K−$37K
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
0.86-0.121550.00400.18-0.12-0.14
0.84-0.121600.00450.20-0.12-0.17
0.79-0.131700.00570.23-0.14-0.22
0.76-0.141750.00630.25-0.14-0.25
0.72-0.151800.00690.26-0.15-0.28
0.65-0.161900.00790.29-0.16-0.36
0.61-0.161950.00830.30-0.16-0.40
0.56-0.162000.00850.31-0.17-0.45
0.48-0.172100.00860.31-0.17-0.53
0.41-0.172200.00820.30-0.17-0.61
0.34-0.162300.00750.29-0.17-0.67
0.29-0.152400.00680.27-0.16-0.73
0.25-0.152500.00600.25-0.15-0.77
0.21-0.142600.00540.23-0.15-0.81
0.19-0.132700.00480.21-0.14-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot951551952603304101430
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

spot95140185260350440169169
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 155 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: BELFB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk