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

FLEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.3
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90+18.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.65±24.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.43745 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3086.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$74Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$95+24.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$90+18.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90+18.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$100+31.1%116d
Fri, Apr 16$90+18.0%172d
Fri, Jan 21$105+37.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90557493112131150$9M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot905570851001151301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLEX 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

spot905570851001151301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot557493112131150136%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 100557085100115130+$91K−$91K
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
0.88-0.04550.00780.06-0.04-0.12
0.83-0.06600.01050.08-0.06-0.17
0.76-0.07650.01310.09-0.07-0.24
0.68-0.07700.01520.11-0.08-0.32
0.60-0.08750.01660.12-0.08-0.41
0.51-0.08800.01720.12-0.08-0.49
0.43-0.08850.01690.12-0.08-0.57
0.36-0.08900.01610.11-0.08-0.65
0.30-0.07950.01490.10-0.07-0.71
0.24-0.071000.01340.09-0.07-0.77
0.20-0.061050.01180.08-0.06-0.81
0.16-0.051100.01030.07-0.05-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2045851251652106K0
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

spot1535701101501906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 17K 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: FLEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk