Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 8:24 PM ET

CASY max pain

Spot (delayed)$670.02
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$650-3.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$81.75±12.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.51126 puts / 246 calls
Call wall$800largest call OI
Put wall$580largest put OI
IV3037.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$199Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $730

Event risk before this expiration: 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$670-0.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$650-3.0%51d
Fri, Feb 19$640-4.5%114d
Fri, May 21$610-9.0%205d
Fri, Dec 17$890+32.8%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot650500570640710780850$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 — 650 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6505005806306807407906565
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CASY 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

spot6505005806306807407901616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot50057064071078085055%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 730500580640690750800+$65K−$65K
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
0.79-0.296000.00270.73-0.30-0.21
0.76-0.316100.00290.78-0.33-0.24
0.72-0.336200.00320.84-0.35-0.28
0.69-0.356300.00330.88-0.36-0.31
0.66-0.376400.00350.92-0.38-0.35
0.62-0.386500.00360.95-0.39-0.39
0.58-0.396600.00380.98-0.40-0.42
0.54-0.406700.00380.99-0.40-0.46
0.51-0.406800.00381.00-0.41-0.50
0.47-0.406900.00380.99-0.40-0.54
0.43-0.397000.00380.98-0.40-0.58
0.40-0.387100.00370.96-0.39-0.61
0.33-0.367300.00350.90-0.36-0.68
0.30-0.347400.00340.87-0.35-0.71
0.27-0.337500.00320.82-0.33-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot33057069081093011203880
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

spot3905406407408501000473473
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 5K 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: CASY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk