Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:31 AM ET

DSGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$94.77
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60-36.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.8±12.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.31137 puts / 435 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3041.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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$85-10.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$60-36.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$80-15.6%144d
Thu, Jun 17$75-20.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6045597387101115$2M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6045607590105105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DSGX 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

spot604560759010522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot45597387101115136%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 5045607590105+$12K−$12K
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
0.95-0.03600.00400.03-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.03650.00550.04-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.04700.00740.06-0.04-0.10
0.87-0.04750.01020.07-0.04-0.13
0.82-0.05800.01380.09-0.05-0.18
0.74-0.05850.01820.12-0.05-0.26
0.64-0.06900.02280.13-0.06-0.35
0.52-0.06950.02580.14-0.06-0.48
0.39-0.051000.02540.14-0.05-0.60
0.28-0.051050.02210.12-0.05-0.71
0.20-0.041100.01780.10-0.04-0.79
0.15-0.041150.01400.08-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot506580951101301300
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

spot35557595115135328328
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 652 call contracts, 678 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: DSGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk