Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:17 AM ET

FLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.21
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$17-6.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.38±29.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2080 puts / 406 calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$11largest put OI
IV3099.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $11

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$19+4.3%5d
Fri, Nov 6$19+4.3%12d
Fri, Nov 13$20+9.8%19d
Fri, Nov 20$22+20.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$18-1.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$17-6.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$20+9.8%82d
Fri, Feb 19$15-17.6%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17101418222630$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot17101317202326153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLY 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

spot171013172023261313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101418222630112%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 11101317202326+$3K−$3K
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
0.96-0.01100.01230.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01110.01800.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01120.02470.01-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01130.03190.02-0.01-0.14
0.82-0.02140.03900.02-0.02-0.18
0.71-0.02160.05120.02-0.02-0.29
0.65-0.02170.05550.03-0.02-0.35
0.59-0.02180.05840.03-0.02-0.41
0.53-0.02190.05980.03-0.02-0.47
0.47-0.02200.06000.03-0.02-0.53
0.42-0.02210.05900.03-0.02-0.58
0.37-0.02220.05710.03-0.02-0.63
0.33-0.02230.05440.03-0.02-0.68
0.28-0.02240.05130.02-0.02-0.72
0.25-0.02250.04780.02-0.02-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot1417.52022.525297860
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

spot3152128406014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 98K call contracts, 35K 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: FLY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk