Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:24 PM ET

CMCSA max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.05
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$24+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.87±13.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.1839K puts / 219K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3034.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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 30$23+4.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$20-9.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$23+4.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$22-0.2%25d
Fri, Nov 27$22-0.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$22-0.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$24+8.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$24+8.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$24+8.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$23+4.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24142026333945$343M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot241419242935106K106K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMCSA open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot2414192429354K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14202633394582%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 251419242935+$1.7M−$1.7M
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.990.00140.00740.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.00150.01120.01-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.00160.01730.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0017.50.03430.01-0.00-0.09
0.86-0.01190.06360.02-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01200.08630.03-0.01-0.26
0.68-0.01210.10660.04-0.01-0.36
0.50-0.0122.50.12140.04-0.01-0.53
0.34-0.01240.11140.04-0.01-0.69
0.24-0.01250.09500.03-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.01260.07630.03-0.01-0.84
0.10-0.0027.50.05090.02-0.00-0.91
0.06-0.00290.03260.01-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00300.02450.01-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.00310.01890.01-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot151921.52426.5317K0
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

spot1318.52225.53037176K176K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 544K call contracts, 229K 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: CMCSA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk