Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:14 AM ET

FCX max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.9
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60-12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.85±14.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.9969K puts / 69K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3047.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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 23$73+6.0%1d
Fri, Oct 30$72+4.5%8d
Fri, Nov 6$70+1.6%15d
Fri, Nov 13$70+1.6%22d
Fri, Nov 20$65-5.7%29d
Fri, Nov 27$70+1.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$60-12.9%57d
Fri, Jan 15$60-12.9%85d
Fri, Feb 19$70+1.6%120d
Fri, Mar 19$65-5.7%148d
Fri, Apr 16$62.5-9.3%176d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot601536577899120$329M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6015406072.58510514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCX 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

spot6015406072.5851053K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20406080100120158%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 80204562.57587.5110+$1.4M−$1.4M
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
0.97-0.0147.50.00450.02-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01500.00650.03-0.01-0.04
0.90-0.02550.01280.05-0.02-0.10
0.81-0.03600.02130.07-0.03-0.19
0.75-0.0362.50.02550.09-0.04-0.26
0.67-0.04650.02900.10-0.04-0.33
0.60-0.0467.50.03150.11-0.04-0.41
0.52-0.04700.03260.11-0.04-0.49
0.44-0.0472.50.03230.11-0.04-0.57
0.36-0.04750.03090.10-0.04-0.65
0.29-0.0477.50.02840.10-0.04-0.72
0.24-0.03800.02540.09-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.0382.50.02200.07-0.03-0.83
0.15-0.02850.01870.06-0.02-0.88
0.11-0.0287.50.01560.05-0.02-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4562697683903K0
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

spot15426170798855K55K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 443K call contracts, 471K 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: FCX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk