Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 8:20 PM ET

CLSK max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$11+17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.58±27.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2716K puts / 59K calls
Call wall$11largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3080.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$181Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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, Oct 16$11+17.6%1d
Fri, Oct 23$11+17.6%8d
Fri, Oct 30$12+28.3%15d
Fri, Nov 6$11+17.6%22d
Fri, Nov 13$11+17.6%29d
Fri, Nov 20$11+17.6%36d
Fri, Nov 27$11+17.6%43d
Fri, Dec 18$11+17.6%64d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot111815212835$109M$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11171217222711K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CLSK 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

spot1117121722272K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3916222935153%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 41712172227+$98K−$98K
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
1.00—10.00040.000.00-0.00
0.99—30.00440.00-0.00-0.01
0.98—40.01090.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0050.02350.00-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0060.04390.01-0.00-0.09
0.84-0.0170.07060.01-0.01-0.16
0.74-0.0180.09700.01-0.01-0.26
0.62-0.0190.11530.01-0.01-0.38
0.50-0.01100.12160.02-0.01-0.50
0.40-0.01110.11730.01-0.01-0.61
0.31-0.01120.10620.01-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.01130.09220.01-0.01-0.77
0.18-0.01140.07780.01-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.01150.06460.01-0.00-0.88
0.11-0.01160.05300.01-0.00-0.91

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

spot1710.51417.52216K0
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

spot17.511.515.519.52770K70K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 522K call contracts, 237K 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: CLSK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk