Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:00 PM ET

DINO max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.05
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90-25.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.6±16.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.424K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$115-4.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$90-25.0%52d
Fri, Jan 15$65-45.9%80d
Fri, Mar 19$115-4.2%143d
Fri, May 21$100-16.7%206d
Thu, Jun 17$110-8.4%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90336394124155185$61M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9032.55575951301702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DINO 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

spot9032.55575951301701010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot336394124155185177%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 6047.56582.5100135170+$477K−$477K
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
0.91-0.0392.50.00640.07-0.04-0.09
0.89-0.04950.00750.09-0.04-0.11
0.87-0.0597.50.00860.10-0.05-0.13
0.84-0.061000.00980.11-0.06-0.16
0.78-0.071050.01190.14-0.07-0.23
0.70-0.081100.01380.16-0.08-0.30
0.63-0.091150.01500.17-0.09-0.38
0.55-0.101200.01560.18-0.10-0.46
0.47-0.101250.01560.18-0.10-0.53
0.40-0.091300.01500.17-0.10-0.60
0.34-0.091350.01410.17-0.09-0.67
0.28-0.081400.01290.15-0.08-0.73
0.23-0.081450.01160.14-0.07-0.78
0.19-0.071500.01030.12-0.07-0.82
0.16-0.061550.00890.11-0.06-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.55575951301705K0
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

spot22.54567.5901251706K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 22K 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: DINO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk