Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:22 PM ET

GEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.41
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$20-18.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.4±34.4% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.1056 puts / 578 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3052.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$23-5.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$26+6.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$26+6.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$25+2.4%172d
Fri, Dec 17$20-18.1%417d
Fri, Jan 21$18-26.3%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20182227313640$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot201823273237279279
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GEN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot20182327323711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot18222731364050%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 201823273237+$6K−$6K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.00180.02230.06-0.00-0.17
0.79-0.00200.02790.08-0.00-0.23
0.68-0.00230.03490.09-0.00-0.34
0.61-0.00250.03780.10-0.01-0.42
0.54-0.00270.03900.10-0.01-0.50
0.44-0.01300.03840.10-0.01-0.61
0.39-0.00320.03690.10-0.00-0.67
0.32-0.00350.03380.09-0.00-0.76
0.28-0.00370.03140.09-0.00-0.81
0.23-0.00400.02780.08-0.00-0.88

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

spot1419242934405K0
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

spot1017222732375K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 13K 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: GEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk