Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:56 AM ET

CMI max pain

Spot (delayed)$519.53
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$590+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$61.75±11.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.742K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$900largest call OI
Put wall$500largest put OI
IV3042.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$264Kper 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$530+2.0%28d
Fri, Dec 18$590+13.6%56d
Fri, Mar 19$620+19.3%147d
Thu, Jun 17$500-3.8%237d
Fri, Sep 17$520+0.1%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5903504966427889341080$131M$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 — 590 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot590350450550650750940375375
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMI 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

spot590350450550650750940136136
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot350496642788934108083%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot350430510590670750+$249K−$249K
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
0.84-0.144500.00300.50-0.17-0.16
0.81-0.174600.00340.56-0.19-0.19
0.77-0.194700.00380.62-0.21-0.23
0.73-0.214800.00420.68-0.23-0.27
0.69-0.234900.00450.73-0.24-0.32
0.64-0.245000.00480.77-0.25-0.37
0.59-0.255100.00500.80-0.26-0.42
0.54-0.255200.00520.81-0.26-0.47
0.48-0.265300.00520.82-0.26-0.52
0.43-0.255400.00520.81-0.25-0.57
0.39-0.245500.00510.78-0.24-0.63
0.34-0.235600.00490.75-0.22-0.67
0.29-0.225700.00460.71-0.20-0.72
0.25-0.205800.00430.66-0.18-0.76
0.22-0.195900.00390.60-0.16-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2704005106207309004600
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

spot270390510630750920777777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 8K 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: CMI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk