Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:39 AM ET

CINF max pain

Spot (delayed)$169
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$155-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.2±9.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.43335 puts / 788 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3018.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$246Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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$170+0.6%25d
Fri, Nov 20$175+3.6%60d
Fri, Dec 18$155-8.3%88d
Fri, Mar 19$155-8.3%179d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot155100122144166188210$2M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot155100125145165185210209209
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CINF 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

spot15510012514516518521044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10012214416618821059%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 120100125145165185210+$79K$79K
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
0.93-0.021350.00490.11-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021400.00640.14-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.031450.00850.17-0.03-0.12
0.83-0.031500.01100.21-0.03-0.17
0.78-0.031550.01400.25-0.04-0.23
0.70-0.041600.01720.29-0.04-0.30
0.61-0.041650.01990.32-0.04-0.40
0.51-0.041700.02140.33-0.04-0.50
0.40-0.041750.02100.32-0.04-0.61
0.31-0.041800.01900.30-0.04-0.71
0.23-0.031850.01620.26-0.04-0.80
0.17-0.031900.01320.22-0.03-0.86
0.13-0.021950.01060.18-0.03-0.92
0.10-0.022000.00840.15-0.02-0.95
0.06-0.012100.00520.10-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001351551751952407580
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

spot95120145170195240809809
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: CINF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk