Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:10 AM ET

CHKP max pain

Spot (delayed)$159.84
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$140-12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.75±14.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.4110K puts / 25K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3054.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$140-12.4%23d
Fri, Dec 18$140-12.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$120-24.9%79d
Fri, Apr 16$140-12.4%170d
Thu, Jun 17$70-56.2%232d
Fri, Jan 21$90-43.7%450d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14060108156204252300$339M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1406010514017522029012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHKP 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

spot140601051401752202901010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot60108156204252300156%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7060105140175220290+$2.9M−$2.9M
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
0.91-0.041250.00490.10-0.05-0.09
0.89-0.051300.00630.12-0.06-0.12
0.85-0.061350.00790.14-0.07-0.15
0.80-0.081400.00950.17-0.08-0.20
0.74-0.091450.01100.20-0.09-0.26
0.68-0.101500.01230.21-0.10-0.32
0.61-0.101550.01330.23-0.10-0.39
0.55-0.111600.01390.24-0.11-0.46
0.48-0.111650.01400.24-0.11-0.53
0.41-0.101700.01370.23-0.10-0.59
0.35-0.101750.01300.22-0.10-0.66
0.29-0.091800.01210.21-0.09-0.71
0.24-0.091850.01100.19-0.09-0.77
0.20-0.081900.00980.17-0.08-0.81
0.17-0.071950.00860.15-0.07-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6011014017020026012K0
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

spot609513016520027013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 24K 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: CHKP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk