Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 5:17 PM ET

BRO max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.31
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.32±10.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.51625 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3028.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$144Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$55-18.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$60-10.9%52d
Fri, Mar 19$35-48.0%143d
Thu, Jun 17$40-40.6%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot603044587286100$3M$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

spot603045607590588588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BRO 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

spot60304560759044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3044587286100135%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 703045607590+$90K−$90K
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
1.00—300.00050.00-0.00-0.00
0.99—350.00090.01-0.00-0.01
0.990.00400.00180.01-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00450.00350.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01500.00690.02-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01550.01390.04-0.01-0.08
0.84-0.02600.02800.06-0.02-0.16
0.67-0.03650.04920.09-0.03-0.34
0.40-0.03700.05390.10-0.03-0.62
0.21-0.02750.03660.07-0.02-0.82
0.11-0.01800.02180.05-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01850.01320.03-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01900.00850.02-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.01950.00570.02—-0.99
0.02-0.011000.00400.01—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30456075901052K0
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

spot30456075901052K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: BRO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk