Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 8, 3:39 AM ET

DXYZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.11
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$25-19.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.23±23.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3517K puts / 47K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3053.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$736Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$35+12.5%8d
Fri, Nov 20$30-3.6%43d
Fri, Dec 18$25-19.6%71d
Fri, Mar 19$30-3.6%162d
Fri, Jan 21$45+44.6%470d
Fri, Jan 19$40+28.6%834d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25132538506375$149M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2512.5203045607512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DXYZ 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

spot2512.52030456075534534
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot132538506375106%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1512.52030456075+$406K−$406K
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
1.00—12.50.00070.000.00-0.00
1.00—150.00150.00-0.00-0.01
0.990.0017.50.00360.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00200.00850.01-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.0122.50.01790.02-0.01-0.08
0.84-0.01250.02910.03-0.01-0.16
0.62-0.02300.04180.05-0.02-0.38
0.43-0.03350.04020.06-0.03-0.58
0.29-0.02400.03320.05-0.02-0.72
0.19-0.02450.02560.04-0.02-0.82
0.13-0.02500.01920.03-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.01550.01410.02-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01600.01040.02-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.01650.00760.01-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.5203045607518K0
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

spot12.5203045607521K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 80K call contracts, 45K 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: DXYZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk