Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:59 AM ET

CME max pain

Spot (delayed)$293.28
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$260-11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.55±7.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.407K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3024.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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, Oct 30$310+5.7%2d
Fri, Nov 6$305+4.0%9d
Fri, Nov 13$295+0.6%16d
Fri, Nov 20$287.5-2.0%23d
Fri, Nov 27$275-6.2%30d
Fri, Dec 4$295+0.6%37d
Fri, Dec 18$260-11.3%51d
Fri, Jan 15$260-11.3%79d
Fri, Mar 19$290-1.1%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260135198261324387450$76M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2601351702102803504202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CME 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

spot2601351702102803504203333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot14520626732838945095%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 290165195250310370430+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.99—2200.00070.03-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.012300.00130.05-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.022400.00220.08-0.03-0.04
0.94-0.032500.00360.13-0.04-0.07
0.90-0.052600.00580.19-0.06-0.11
0.83-0.072700.00890.28-0.07-0.18
0.73-0.092800.01220.37-0.09-0.29
0.59-0.102900.01480.43-0.10-0.42
0.44-0.103000.01530.43-0.10-0.57
0.30-0.093100.01350.39-0.08-0.71
0.20-0.073200.01050.31-0.06-0.81
0.12-0.053300.00740.23-0.04-0.89
0.07-0.043400.00500.16-0.04-0.94
0.04-0.033500.00320.11-0.03-0.98
0.03-0.023600.00210.07-0.05-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160275292.5310327.53557040
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

spot1251852502953154104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 29K 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: CME workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk