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

CW max pain

Spot (delayed)$494.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$570+15.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$165±33.4% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.77133 puts / 172 calls
Call wall$640largest call OI
Put wall$580largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $360

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

spot570310420530640750860$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 — 570 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot5703104305005706407105151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CW open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot57031043050057064071011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot31042053064075086044%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 360310430500570640710+$24K−$24K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.76-0.064200.00141.64-0.08-0.25
0.75-0.074300.00151.70-0.08-0.27
0.73-0.074400.00161.75-0.08-0.28
0.71-0.074500.00161.81-0.09-0.30
0.69-0.074600.00171.86-0.09-0.32
0.68-0.084700.00171.90-0.09-0.34
0.66-0.084800.00181.94-0.09-0.36
0.64-0.084900.00181.98-0.09-0.38
0.62-0.085000.00182.01-0.10-0.40
0.60-0.085100.00192.04-0.10-0.42
0.59-0.095200.00192.06-0.10-0.44
0.57-0.095300.00192.08-0.10-0.46
0.55-0.095400.00192.09-0.10-0.48
0.53-0.095500.00192.10-0.10-0.50
0.52-0.095600.00202.11-0.10-0.53

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 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