Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:48 AM ET

CSCO max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100-9.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.88±12.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0577K puts / 74K calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3046.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$934Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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 30$108-2.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$108-2.3%10d
Fri, Nov 13$110-0.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$110-0.5%24d
Fri, Nov 27$109-1.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$95-14.0%38d
Fri, Dec 18$100-9.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$95-14.0%80d
Fri, Mar 19$105-5.0%143d
Fri, Apr 16$110-0.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100286093125158190$523M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10027.547.567.587.511515512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSCO 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

spot10027.547.567.587.5115155608608
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot356697128159190154%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 13537.557.577.597.5135175+$1.7M−$1.7M
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
0.93-0.0287.50.00720.06-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.03900.00900.07-0.03-0.10
0.88-0.0392.50.01090.09-0.04-0.12
0.84-0.04950.01300.10-0.04-0.16
0.80-0.0497.50.01500.12-0.05-0.20
0.76-0.051000.01700.13-0.05-0.24
0.66-0.061050.02050.15-0.06-0.34
0.55-0.061100.02250.17-0.07-0.45
0.44-0.061150.02270.17-0.06-0.56
0.34-0.061200.02120.15-0.06-0.67
0.24-0.051250.01840.13-0.05-0.77
0.17-0.041300.01490.11-0.04-0.85
0.11-0.031350.01140.08-0.03-0.91
0.07-0.021400.00830.06-0.02-0.95
0.05-0.021450.00590.04-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70991071151231312K0
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

spot37.562.582.510112516541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 425K call contracts, 382K 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: CSCO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk