Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:07 AM ET

FLNC max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.61
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$6+7.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.9±33.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.751K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3089.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$8+42.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$6+7.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$9+60.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$11+96.1%116d
Fri, May 21$7+24.8%207d
Fri, Jan 21$15+167.4%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot646791012$1M$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 — 6 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot64681012662662
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLNC 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

spot64681012235235
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot46791012122%100%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 74681012+$2K−$2K
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
0.84-0.0140.09920.01-0.01-0.16
0.69-0.0150.15600.01-0.01-0.31
0.52-0.0160.17780.01-0.01-0.48
0.37-0.0170.16570.01-0.01-0.63
0.26-0.0180.13960.01-0.01-0.74
0.18-0.0190.11210.01-0.01-0.82
0.13-0.00100.08800.01-0.01-0.88
0.10-0.00110.06850.00-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.00120.05320.00-0.00-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot191725334120K0
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

spot191725334124K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 150K call contracts, 56K 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: FLNC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk