Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:28 PM ET

EEFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.95
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$65+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.9±12.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.73811 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3044.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$70+9.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$65+1.6%53d
Fri, Feb 19$35-45.3%116d
Fri, May 21$50-21.8%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6535547392111130$6M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6535557595115254254
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EEFT 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

spot653555759511555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35547392111130146%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 4535557595115+$19K−$19K
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
0.98-0.01350.00260.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01400.00440.02-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01450.00750.03-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.02500.01270.04-0.02-0.10
0.83-0.03550.02110.06-0.03-0.18
0.70-0.04600.03230.09-0.04-0.31
0.52-0.04650.03980.10-0.04-0.49
0.34-0.03700.03620.09-0.04-0.69
0.21-0.03750.02700.07-0.03-0.82
0.14-0.02800.01910.05-0.03-0.90
0.10-0.02850.01360.04-0.02-0.94
0.07-0.02900.00990.03-0.01-0.97
0.05-0.01950.00740.03-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.011000.00570.02-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355575951157330
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

spot355575951151K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: EEFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk