Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:14 PM ET

COPJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.26
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$45+20.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.95±13.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.46248 puts / 534 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$46largest put OI
IV3039.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$45+20.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$45+20.8%54d
Fri, Mar 19$30-19.5%145d
Thu, Jun 17$36-3.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45253443526170$1M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot45253742475370299299
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COPJ 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

spot4525374247537022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot253443526170107%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 50253742475370+$10K−$10K
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
0.99-0.00250.00580.01-0.01-0.05
0.95-0.01300.02070.02-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.01340.05220.04-0.02-0.33
0.75-0.02350.06130.04-0.02-0.40
0.69-0.02360.06850.05-0.02-0.47
0.61-0.02370.07270.05-0.02-0.54
0.54-0.02380.07350.05-0.02-0.60
0.47-0.02390.07150.05-0.02-0.66
0.41-0.02400.06750.05-0.02-0.70
0.35-0.02410.06250.05-0.02-0.74
0.31-0.02420.05720.05-0.02-0.78
0.27-0.02430.05180.05-0.02-0.81
0.24-0.02440.04670.04-0.02-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2536414651603500
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

spot203440465270350350
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 382 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: COPJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk