Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:44 AM ET

CIBR max pain

Spot (delayed)$106.44
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$103-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.95±10.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.26163 puts / 129 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$99largest put OI
IV3035.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 1% move

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$95-10.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$103-3.2%54d
Fri, Feb 19$83-22.0%117d
Fri, May 21$104-2.3%208d
Fri, Aug 20$80-24.8%299d
Fri, Nov 19$70-34.2%390d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103859298105111118$1M$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 — 103 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1038596991021051124747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIBR 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

spot1038596991021051122929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85929810511111842%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot859699102105112+$12K−$12K
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
0.72-0.04990.02320.14-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.041000.02420.14-0.04-0.30
0.67-0.051010.02510.15-0.05-0.33
0.64-0.051020.02580.15-0.05-0.36
0.61-0.051030.02650.16-0.05-0.38
0.59-0.051040.02710.16-0.05-0.41
0.56-0.051050.02750.16-0.05-0.44
0.53-0.051060.02770.17-0.05-0.47
0.42-0.051100.02740.16-0.05-0.57
0.37-0.051120.02640.16-0.05-0.63
0.30-0.041150.02430.14-0.04-0.70
0.24-0.041180.02150.13-0.04-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot456475861001204K0
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

spot406578911041174K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 4K 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: CIBR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk