Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 12:11 AM ET

FISV max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.31
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$55+16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.6±14.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8719K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3051.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$796Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$47.5+0.4%3d
Fri, Nov 6$48+1.5%10d
Fri, Nov 13$49+3.6%17d
Fri, Nov 20$48+1.5%24d
Fri, Nov 27$45-4.9%31d
Fri, Dec 4$51+7.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$55+16.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$50+5.7%80d
Fri, Mar 19$50+5.7%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55255891124157190$241M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot552555851151451755K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FISV 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

spot55255585115145175146146
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot255891124157190168%42%
— 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 3025456585105125+$415K−$415K
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
1.00—250.00090.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00300.00340.01-0.00-0.01
0.95-0.01350.01090.02-0.01-0.05
0.85-0.02400.02600.04-0.02-0.15
0.67-0.03450.04330.07-0.03-0.34
0.43-0.03500.04800.07-0.03-0.58
0.24-0.02550.03750.06-0.02-0.78
0.12-0.02600.02360.04-0.02-0.91
0.06-0.01650.01350.02-0.01-0.98
0.03-0.01700.00750.01-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00750.00420.01-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00800.00250.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3039.545.548.553592K0
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

spot25476010014019523K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 186K call contracts, 96K 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: FISV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk