Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 9, 9:10 PM ET

CEG max pain

Spot (delayed)$298.07
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$280-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.3±16.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.3512K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3047.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$282Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$285-4.4%4d
Fri, Oct 23$290-2.7%11d
Fri, Oct 30$270-9.4%18d
Fri, Nov 6$275-7.7%25d
Fri, Nov 13$290-2.7%32d
Fri, Nov 20$280-6.1%39d
Fri, Nov 27$270-9.4%46d
Fri, Dec 18$280-6.1%67d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280125220315410505600$199M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2801251752503504505502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CEG 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

spot280125175250350450550984984
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot125220315410505600118%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140185260350440530+$624K−$624K
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
0.92-0.072300.00250.21-0.07-0.09
0.88-0.092400.00320.26-0.09-0.12
0.84-0.112500.00400.32-0.11-0.16
0.79-0.132600.00470.38-0.13-0.21
0.74-0.142700.00540.43-0.14-0.27
0.68-0.152800.00600.47-0.16-0.33
0.61-0.162900.00640.50-0.17-0.40
0.55-0.173000.00660.52-0.17-0.46
0.48-0.173100.00660.52-0.17-0.53
0.42-0.173200.00650.51-0.17-0.59
0.36-0.163300.00620.49-0.17-0.65
0.31-0.153400.00580.46-0.16-0.70
0.27-0.143500.00530.43-0.15-0.75
0.23-0.133600.00480.39-0.14-0.79
0.19-0.123700.00430.36-0.13-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160245267.52903153603K0
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

spot12519025030037050012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 137K 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: CEG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk