Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 3:07 AM ET

CVX max pain

Spot (delayed)$202.75
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$185-8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.63±10.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.9039K puts / 43K calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3026.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $220
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 30usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 25$210+3.6%2d
Fri, Oct 2$207.5+2.3%9d
Fri, Oct 9$210+3.6%16d
Fri, Oct 16$200-1.4%23d
Fri, Oct 23$205+1.1%30d
Fri, Oct 30$200-1.4%37d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 30)
Fri, Nov 20$200-1.4%58d
Fri, Dec 18$185-8.8%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18570118166214262310$407M$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1857010514017522029013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVX 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

spot185701051401752202902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7011816621426231090%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 22075110145180230300+$2.6M$2.6M
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
0.94-0.011650.00420.11-0.02-0.07
0.92-0.021700.00570.15-0.03-0.10
0.88-0.031750.00740.19-0.04-0.14
0.84-0.041800.00930.24-0.04-0.18
0.79-0.041850.01120.29-0.05-0.24
0.72-0.051900.01290.33-0.05-0.30
0.65-0.061950.01420.36-0.06-0.37
0.58-0.062000.01510.38-0.06-0.44
0.43-0.062100.01510.38-0.06-0.59
0.29-0.052200.01320.34-0.05-0.72
0.19-0.042300.01020.27-0.04-0.82
0.12-0.032400.00740.20-0.02-0.89
0.07-0.022500.00510.14-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.022600.00350.10-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.012700.00250.08-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110185202.5217.5232.526014K0
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

spot70120170202.5227.526544K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 280K call contracts, 190K 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: CVX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk