Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:37 PM ET

CAMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$132
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$120-9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72.1±54.6% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.58399 puts / 693 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3072.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$150+13.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$125-5.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$120-9.1%86d
Fri, Feb 19$145+9.8%121d
Fri, May 21$150+13.6%212d
Fri, Dec 17$120-9.1%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1204596147198249300$10M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1204580115150185250195195
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot120458011515018525011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot459614719824930078%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 1204580115150185250+$8K−$8K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.03950.00280.39-0.03-0.19
0.77-0.031000.00300.41-0.03-0.21
0.75-0.031050.00310.43-0.03-0.23
0.73-0.031100.00330.45-0.04-0.25
0.71-0.031150.00340.47-0.04-0.27
0.69-0.031200.00350.48-0.04-0.29
0.67-0.041250.00360.50-0.04-0.31
0.65-0.041300.00370.51-0.04-0.33
0.63-0.041350.00380.52-0.04-0.35
0.62-0.041400.00380.53-0.04-0.37
0.60-0.041450.00390.54-0.04-0.39
0.58-0.041500.00400.54-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.041550.00400.55-0.04-0.43
0.55-0.041600.00400.55-0.04-0.45
0.53-0.041650.00400.56-0.04-0.46

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35851201551902505K0
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

spot30701101501902606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 18K 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: CAMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk