Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:33 AM ET

EBAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$121
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$105-13.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.68±11.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.2411K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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 30$116-4.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$113-6.6%11d
Fri, Nov 13$116-4.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$110-9.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$118-2.5%32d
Fri, Dec 18$105-13.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90-25.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$100-17.4%144d
Fri, Apr 16$95-21.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105436996122149175$50M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10542.570851001301605K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EBAY 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

spot10542.570851001301602121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot457197123149175135%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1156077.590105130155+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.95-0.0292.50.00460.04-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.02950.00580.06-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.0397.50.00720.07-0.03-0.08
0.90-0.031000.00880.08-0.03-0.10
0.85-0.041050.01240.11-0.04-0.15
0.77-0.051100.01630.14-0.05-0.23
0.68-0.061150.01990.17-0.06-0.32
0.57-0.061200.02220.19-0.06-0.43
0.46-0.061250.02290.19-0.06-0.55
0.35-0.061300.02160.18-0.06-0.66
0.26-0.051350.01890.15-0.05-0.75
0.18-0.041400.01540.13-0.04-0.83
0.12-0.031450.01180.10-0.03-0.89
0.08-0.021500.00860.07-0.03-0.94
0.05-0.011550.00610.05-0.02-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601051131211291374940
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

spot37.5658510311714513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 47K call contracts, 40K 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: EBAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk