Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:31 PM ET

GMED max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.83
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$75-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.8±12.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.62464 puts / 753 calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3045.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$77.5-5.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$75-8.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$82.5+0.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$80-2.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7540567288104120$2M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7540607587.5100162162
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GMED 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

spot7540607587.510077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot40567288104120126%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 60406072.582.592.5105+$23K−$23K
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
0.89-0.03650.01080.06-0.03-0.10
0.87-0.0367.50.01350.07-0.03-0.13
0.83-0.03700.01670.08-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.0472.50.02030.09-0.04-0.21
0.73-0.04750.02410.10-0.04-0.26
0.67-0.0477.50.02760.11-0.04-0.33
0.60-0.04800.03040.12-0.05-0.40
0.52-0.0582.50.03180.12-0.05-0.48
0.44-0.04850.03160.12-0.05-0.56
0.37-0.0487.50.03000.12-0.04-0.63
0.30-0.04900.02750.11-0.04-0.70
0.25-0.0492.50.02460.10-0.04-0.75
0.21-0.04950.02150.09-0.03-0.80
0.17-0.0397.50.01870.08-0.03-0.84
0.14-0.031000.01610.07-0.03-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot406077.5901051306590
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

spot405572.58597.5120659659
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 726 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: GMED workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk