Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:16 AM ET

CBRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.66
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$52.5-22.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.55±17.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.384K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$102Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$60-11.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$52.5-22.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50-26.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$52.5-22.4%144d
Thu, Jun 17$60-11.3%234d
Fri, Dec 17$35-48.3%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.5153045607590$8M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot52.51527.54052.56577.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CBRL 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

spot52.51527.54052.56577.53030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot153045607590195%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 451527.54052.56577.5+$35K−$35K
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
0.91-0.02500.00950.04-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.0352.50.01200.05-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.03550.01500.06-0.03-0.15
0.80-0.0457.50.01820.07-0.04-0.20
0.75-0.04600.02140.08-0.04-0.25
0.69-0.0462.50.02430.09-0.04-0.31
0.62-0.05650.02650.10-0.05-0.38
0.55-0.0567.50.02770.10-0.05-0.45
0.48-0.05700.02800.10-0.05-0.52
0.42-0.0572.50.02740.10-0.05-0.58
0.36-0.05750.02600.10-0.05-0.64
0.30-0.0477.50.02420.09-0.04-0.70
0.26-0.04800.02200.09-0.04-0.74
0.18-0.03850.01760.07-0.04-0.82
0.13-0.03900.01360.06-0.03-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot153547.56072.5901K0
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

spot12.527.542.557.572.5954K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 20K 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: CBRL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk