Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:36 AM ET

CW max pain

Spot (delayed)$494.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$610+23.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$62.15±12.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.18272 puts / 125 calls
Call wall$750largest call OI
Put wall$610largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$156Kper 1% move

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$550+11.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$610+23.4%58d
Fri, Mar 19$680+37.6%149d
Thu, Jun 17$530+7.2%239d
Fri, Dec 17$570+15.3%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6103704966227488741000$4M$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 — 610 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6103704505406507409005959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CW 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

spot61037045054065074090022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot370496622748874100090%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot370450540650740900+$39K−$39K
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
0.89-0.134100.00230.38-0.14-0.12
0.86-0.154200.00260.44-0.16-0.14
0.80-0.194400.00350.56-0.20-0.21
0.76-0.214500.00390.62-0.22-0.24
0.71-0.224600.00430.67-0.23-0.29
0.67-0.244700.00460.71-0.24-0.33
0.62-0.254800.00490.75-0.26-0.38
0.57-0.264900.00510.77-0.26-0.43
0.52-0.265000.00520.79-0.27-0.49
0.42-0.265200.00510.77-0.26-0.59
0.33-0.245400.00470.71-0.24-0.68
0.25-0.215600.00410.63-0.22-0.76
0.19-0.185800.00340.54-0.19-0.83
0.15-0.166000.00280.45-0.16-0.88
0.13-0.146100.00250.41-0.15-0.90

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

spot3404905806707609002270
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

spot2503905306708101000282282
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K 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: CW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk