Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 11:22 PM ET

EGO max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.17
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$35+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.73±16.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.555K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3059.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

Event risk before this expiration: 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$35+2.4%23d
Fri, Dec 18$35+2.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$38+11.2%79d
Fri, Mar 19$38+11.2%142d
Fri, Apr 16$38+11.2%170d
Fri, May 21$35+2.4%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3551933476175$30M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35521293643502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EGO 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

spot35521293643508181
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot102336496275205%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 30152432394665+$75K−$75K
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
0.88-0.01270.02720.03-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.02280.03260.03-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02290.03800.04-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02300.04310.04-0.02-0.24
0.71-0.02310.04760.04-0.02-0.29
0.66-0.03320.05130.05-0.03-0.34
0.60-0.03330.05380.05-0.03-0.40
0.55-0.03340.05510.05-0.03-0.45
0.49-0.03350.05520.05-0.03-0.50
0.44-0.03360.05430.05-0.03-0.56
0.39-0.03370.05250.05-0.03-0.60
0.35-0.03380.05000.05-0.03-0.65
0.31-0.03390.04710.04-0.02-0.69
0.27-0.02400.04390.04-0.02-0.73
0.23-0.02410.04060.04-0.02-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot521293643506K0
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

spot520283644609K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 19K 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: EGO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk