Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:04 AM ET

ETHA max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.94
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$57+5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.55±15.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.108K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3050.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$65Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$57+5.7%5d
Fri, Nov 6$58+7.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$53-1.7%19d
Fri, Nov 20$57.5+6.6%26d
Fri, Nov 27$55+2.0%33d
Fri, Dec 4$53-1.7%40d
Fri, Dec 18$57+5.7%54d
Fri, Jan 15$55+2.0%82d
Fri, Mar 19$59+9.4%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot57203448627690$17M$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 — 57 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot572048556167853K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ETHA 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

spot572048556167852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot203448627690113%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 25204855616785+$176K−$176K
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
0.92-0.02400.01160.03-0.02-0.09
0.84-0.03450.02050.05-0.03-0.17
0.76-0.03480.02710.07-0.03-0.24
0.70-0.03500.03120.07-0.04-0.30
0.67-0.04510.03310.08-0.04-0.34
0.64-0.04520.03470.08-0.04-0.37
0.60-0.04530.03600.08-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.04540.03700.08-0.04-0.45
0.53-0.04550.03760.09-0.04-0.48
0.49-0.04560.03780.09-0.04-0.52
0.45-0.04570.03760.08-0.04-0.56
0.42-0.04580.03700.08-0.04-0.59
0.38-0.04590.03620.08-0.04-0.63
0.35-0.04600.03500.08-0.04-0.66
0.32-0.03610.03370.08-0.04-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot455053.55760.5644K0
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

spot1046.551.556.561.56911K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 71K call contracts, 62K 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: ETHA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk