Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:00 AM ET

BOTZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.3
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$35+5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.93±11.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.06427 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3027.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$141Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $37

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$34+2.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$35+5.1%54d
Fri, Mar 19$33-0.9%145d
Thu, Jun 17$30-9.9%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35202734414855$6M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot352030343842464K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BOTZ 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

spot352030343842461010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20273441485572%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 37203034384246+$85K−$85K
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
0.97-0.01200.00700.01-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.01250.01990.02-0.01-0.07
0.86-0.01280.03970.03-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01290.05040.03-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01300.06400.04-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.01310.08030.04-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.01320.09800.05-0.01-0.36
0.54-0.01330.11220.05-0.01-0.47
0.42-0.01340.11570.05-0.01-0.58
0.31-0.01350.10570.05-0.01-0.69
0.23-0.01360.08810.04-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.01370.07010.03-0.01-0.85
0.13-0.01380.05500.03-0.01-0.89
0.10-0.01390.04330.02-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.01400.03430.02-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2030343842464K0
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

spot20293439444K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 996 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: BOTZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk