Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:55 PM ET

CPRT max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.84
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$30+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.33±11.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.5612K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$32.5largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3036.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$148Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$25-13.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$30+4.0%52d
Fri, Jan 15$30+4.0%80d
Fri, Feb 19$32.5+12.7%115d
Fri, Mar 19$30+4.0%143d
Fri, May 21$22.5-22.0%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152433425160$54M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot301522.53037.54552.59K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CPRT 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

spot301522.53037.54552.52323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot152433425160110%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 351522.53037.54552.5+$638K−$638K
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
1.00—150.00150.00-0.00-0.00
0.99—17.50.00400.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00200.01030.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0122.50.02460.01-0.01-0.07
0.85-0.01250.05160.03-0.01-0.16
0.67-0.0127.50.08580.04-0.01-0.33
0.44-0.01300.09860.04-0.01-0.57
0.23-0.0132.50.07610.03-0.01-0.79
0.11-0.01350.04550.02-0.01-0.92
0.05-0.0037.50.02470.01-0.01-0.99
0.03-0.00400.01330.01-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.0042.50.00740.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00450.00420.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.0047.50.00250.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1527.54052.5658014K0
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

spot1527.54052.5658017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 94K call contracts, 38K 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: CPRT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk