Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:40 AM ET

EMXC max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.71
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$94+2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.05±9.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.44314 puts / 711 calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3029.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$95+3.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$94+2.5%54d
Fri, Mar 19$88-4.0%145d
Thu, Jun 17$70-23.7%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot94607590105120135$3M$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 — 94 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9460779094100120211211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMXC 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

spot94607790941001204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot60759010512013568%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 8560779195105125+$31K−$31K
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
0.90-0.03750.01120.06-0.03-0.12
0.88-0.03770.01340.07-0.03-0.15
0.84-0.03800.01740.08-0.03-0.19
0.81-0.03820.02080.10-0.04-0.22
0.75-0.04850.02670.11-0.04-0.29
0.60-0.04900.03640.14-0.04-0.45
0.56-0.04910.03780.14-0.04-0.49
0.52-0.04920.03860.14-0.04-0.53
0.48-0.04930.03900.14-0.04-0.56
0.45-0.04940.03880.14-0.04-0.60
0.41-0.04950.03810.14-0.04-0.63
0.37-0.04960.03700.13-0.03-0.67
0.34-0.04970.03560.13-0.03-0.70
0.26-0.031000.03020.11-0.03-0.77
0.16-0.031050.02120.09-0.02-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot608594991041202210
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

spot45788694102120308308
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 370 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: EMXC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk