Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:18 AM ET

FWONK max pain

Spot (delayed)$89.29
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.9±11.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.264K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3034.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$100+12.0%24d
Fri, Dec 18$90+0.8%52d
Fri, Jan 15$95+6.4%80d
Fri, Feb 19$95+6.4%115d
Fri, Apr 16$90+0.8%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90506988107126145$73M$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

spot905070901101309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FWONK 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

spot905070901101305656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot506988107126145103%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 65557595115135+$2.3M−$2.3M
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
0.98-0.00550.00200.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01600.00320.02-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01650.00510.03-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.02700.00830.05-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.02750.01350.07-0.03-0.12
0.81-0.03800.02110.09-0.03-0.19
0.69-0.04850.02970.12-0.04-0.32
0.52-0.04900.03430.14-0.04-0.49
0.37-0.04950.03160.13-0.04-0.65
0.25-0.041000.02520.11-0.04-0.78
0.17-0.031050.01880.09-0.03-0.86
0.12-0.031100.01390.07-0.03-0.91
0.09-0.021150.01040.05-0.02-0.95
0.06-0.021200.00780.04-0.02-0.97
0.05-0.011250.00600.04-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5070901051201359K0
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

spot45658510512514511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 9K 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: FWONK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk