Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:16 PM ET

DJT max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.65
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$9+35.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.47±22.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3812K puts / 33K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3066.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$11Kper 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, Oct 23$7+5.2%2d
Fri, Oct 30$7+5.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$7+5.2%16d
Fri, Nov 13$7+5.2%23d
Fri, Nov 20$9+35.3%30d
Fri, Nov 27$6.5-2.3%37d
Fri, Dec 18$9+35.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$10+50.3%86d
Fri, Mar 19$9+35.3%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot92814202632$39M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9261014182713K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DJT 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

spot92610141827454454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2814202632243%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2610141827+$13K−$13K
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
0.990.0020.00580.00-0.00-0.01
0.980.0030.01500.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0040.03990.00-0.00-0.04
0.88-0.0050.10480.01-0.00-0.12
0.71-0.0160.19250.01-0.01-0.29
0.49-0.0170.22480.01-0.01-0.51
0.31-0.0180.19180.01-0.01-0.70
0.20-0.0190.14260.01-0.00-0.81
0.13-0.00100.10320.01-0.00-0.88
0.10-0.00110.07700.01-0.00-0.92
0.08-0.00120.06020.00-0.00-0.94
0.07-0.00130.04910.00-0.00-0.96
0.06-0.00140.04130.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3.568.51113.5173K0
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

spot16.51116356560K60K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 303K call contracts, 193K 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: DJT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk