Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:54 AM ET

CDW max pain

Spot (delayed)$165.11
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$130-21.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.8±15.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.875K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3055.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$150-9.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$130-21.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$140-15.2%144d
Thu, Jun 17$105-36.4%234d
Fri, Dec 17$150-9.2%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1306090120150180210$31M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13060851101351601853K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CDW 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

spot13060851101351601851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6090120150180210153%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1606085110135160185+$849K−$849K
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
0.89-0.061300.00540.12-0.06-0.11
0.86-0.071350.00660.14-0.07-0.14
0.82-0.081400.00780.17-0.08-0.18
0.78-0.091450.00920.19-0.09-0.23
0.72-0.101500.01040.21-0.10-0.28
0.67-0.101550.01140.23-0.10-0.34
0.61-0.111600.01230.25-0.11-0.40
0.54-0.111650.01280.26-0.11-0.46
0.48-0.111700.01290.26-0.11-0.52
0.42-0.111750.01270.25-0.11-0.59
0.36-0.101800.01220.24-0.10-0.65
0.30-0.101850.01150.23-0.10-0.70
0.26-0.091900.01060.21-0.09-0.75
0.21-0.081950.00950.19-0.08-0.79
0.18-0.072000.00850.17-0.07-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70951201451701953K0
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

spot55851151451752103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 8K 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: CDW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk