Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:22 PM ET

CVLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$170.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$105-38.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.7±17.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.34557 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3067.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$218Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$150-12.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$105-38.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$155-9.3%81d
Fri, Mar 19$145-15.1%144d
Fri, Apr 16$155-9.3%172d
Thu, Jun 17$95-44.4%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1054090140190240290$21M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1054072.595135180250252252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVLT 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

spot1054072.59513518025011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4090140190240290219%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 656085110145180230+$42K−$42K
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
0.86-0.081350.00530.14-0.08-0.14
0.83-0.091400.00620.16-0.10-0.17
0.79-0.101450.00710.18-0.10-0.21
0.75-0.111500.00800.20-0.12-0.25
0.71-0.121550.00890.22-0.12-0.29
0.66-0.131600.00960.24-0.13-0.34
0.61-0.131650.01010.25-0.14-0.39
0.56-0.141700.01050.26-0.14-0.45
0.50-0.141750.01070.26-0.14-0.50
0.45-0.141800.01070.26-0.14-0.55
0.40-0.131850.01040.25-0.13-0.60
0.35-0.131900.01010.24-0.13-0.65
0.31-0.121950.00960.23-0.12-0.70
0.27-0.112000.00900.21-0.11-0.74
0.20-0.102100.00760.18-0.09-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4077.597.51351752303450
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

spot4072.595135180250420420
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: CVLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk