Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 3:10 AM ET

COR max pain

Spot (delayed)$330.11
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$310-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.7±10.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.422K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3034.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$615Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

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$310-6.1%2d
Fri, Nov 20$310-6.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.1%65d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.1%93d
Fri, Feb 19$360+9.1%128d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.1%156d
Fri, May 21$320-3.1%219d
Fri, Sep 17$190-42.4%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310135216297378459540$39M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3101351802403103804502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COR 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

spot31013518024031038045066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot135216297378459540108%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 180155195280350420500+$560K−$560K
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
0.93-0.052600.00230.18-0.06-0.07
0.91-0.062700.00300.23-0.07-0.09
0.88-0.072800.00390.29-0.08-0.13
0.83-0.092900.00500.35-0.10-0.17
0.78-0.103000.00620.42-0.11-0.22
0.71-0.123100.00740.48-0.12-0.29
0.63-0.123200.00840.53-0.13-0.37
0.55-0.133300.00910.56-0.13-0.46
0.46-0.133400.00930.56-0.13-0.56
0.36-0.123500.00900.53-0.12-0.65
0.28-0.103600.00810.48-0.10-0.73
0.22-0.093700.00700.41-0.09-0.80
0.16-0.083800.00580.35-0.08-0.86
0.12-0.063900.00470.28-0.06-0.91
0.09-0.054000.00370.23-0.06-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1352102803504205001K0
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

spot1251652102903704502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: COR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk