Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:14 AM ET

CAPR max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.11
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$9+47.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.32±103.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.5624K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV30347.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$36Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

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$6.5+6.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$6-1.8%7d
Fri, Nov 6$7+14.6%14d
Fri, Nov 13$7+14.6%21d
Fri, Nov 20$9+47.3%28d
Fri, Nov 27$6-1.8%35d
Fri, Dec 18$9+47.3%56d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5+22.7%84d
Fri, Mar 19$5-18.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot911121304050$129M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot919172533428K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAPR 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

spot91917253342200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11121304050497%169%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 362.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 171815223037+$13K−$13K
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
0.98-0.0010.00680.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.0120.01630.00-0.01-0.06
0.88-0.0130.02380.01-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.0240.02940.01-0.02-0.16
0.79-0.0250.03330.01-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.0260.03620.01-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.0270.03840.01-0.02-0.27
0.69-0.0380.03990.01-0.03-0.30
0.67-0.0390.04100.01-0.03-0.33
0.64-0.03100.04190.01-0.03-0.35
0.62-0.03110.04240.01-0.03-0.37
0.60-0.03120.04280.01-0.03-0.39
0.58-0.03130.04310.01-0.03-0.41

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot157.51012.5171K0
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

spot1712.520304119K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 122K call contracts, 67K 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: CAPR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk