Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:32 AM ET

ELVN max pain

Spot (delayed)$42
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$17.5-58.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.55±41.8% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.54500 puts / 926 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3054.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 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$40-4.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$30-28.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$45+7.1%82d
Fri, Mar 19$20-52.4%145d
Thu, Jun 17$20-52.4%235d
Fri, Dec 17$17.5-58.3%418d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5183247617690$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot17.517.525406075654654
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ELVN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot17.517.52540607511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot18324761769063%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 5017.525406075+$10K−$10K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.940.0017.50.00360.05-0.00-0.06
0.93-0.00200.00460.06-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0022.50.00590.07-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.00250.00730.09-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01300.01040.12-0.01-0.18
0.75-0.01350.01340.14-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.01400.01580.16-0.01-0.34
0.51-0.01500.01780.18-0.01-0.52
0.44-0.01550.01760.17-0.01-0.60
0.37-0.01600.01700.17-0.01-0.68
0.32-0.01650.01600.16-0.01-0.75
0.27-0.01700.01480.15-0.01-0.81
0.23-0.01750.01360.14-0.01-0.87
0.20-0.01800.01240.12-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot517.5305070903390
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

spot2.512.522.5406080730730
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: ELVN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk