Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:23 AM ET

FCFS max pain

Spot (delayed)$172
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$180+4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.2±11.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.56371 puts / 666 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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$210+22.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$180+4.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$180+4.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$260+51.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot180100148196244292340$8M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot180100140175210270330193193
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCFS 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

spot180100140175210270330600600
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot110156202248294340105%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 110100145180220280340+$39K−$39K
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
0.94-0.041300.00350.08-0.04-0.06
0.93-0.041350.00440.10-0.04-0.08
0.91-0.051400.00560.12-0.05-0.10
0.88-0.051450.00710.14-0.05-0.13
0.84-0.061500.00880.17-0.06-0.16
0.73-0.071600.01280.22-0.08-0.27
0.67-0.081650.01450.25-0.08-0.34
0.59-0.091700.01560.26-0.09-0.42
0.51-0.091750.01600.27-0.09-0.50
0.43-0.091800.01560.27-0.09-0.58
0.36-0.091850.01470.25-0.09-0.65
0.30-0.081900.01340.24-0.08-0.71
0.25-0.071950.01200.22-0.08-0.77
0.21-0.072000.01060.20-0.07-0.81
0.14-0.062100.00800.15-0.06-0.88

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

spot1001401752102703302210
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

spot80115150185240310221221
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 688 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: FCFS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk