Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:54 PM ET

EXPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.01
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$230-18.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.5±16.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.055K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3060.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$461Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $195

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$270-3.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$285+1.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$285+1.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$280-0.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$275-2.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$225-19.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$230-18.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$250-11.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$260-7.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$300+6.8%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23060146232318404490$105M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot23060110160220320420645645
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EXPE 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

spot23060110160220320420130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot60146232318404490175%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 19590135180250340430+$217K−$217K
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
0.93-0.072100.00220.15-0.08-0.07
0.90-0.092200.00300.20-0.10-0.10
0.86-0.122300.00370.24-0.13-0.14
0.81-0.142400.00460.29-0.15-0.19
0.76-0.172500.00530.34-0.17-0.25
0.69-0.192600.00600.38-0.19-0.31
0.63-0.202700.00650.41-0.21-0.38
0.56-0.212800.00680.42-0.21-0.44
0.49-0.212900.00700.43-0.21-0.51
0.42-0.213000.00690.42-0.21-0.58
0.36-0.203100.00660.40-0.20-0.65
0.30-0.183200.00620.38-0.18-0.70
0.25-0.173300.00560.34-0.17-0.76
0.21-0.153400.00510.31-0.15-0.80
0.17-0.133500.00450.27-0.13-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot170245285307.53303701K0
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

spot701451952603053956K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 39K 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: EXPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk