Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 7:43 PM ET

GPN max pain

Spot (delayed)$84.88
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85+0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.3±15.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.052K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3037.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$85+0.1%23d
Fri, Nov 20$75-11.6%58d
Fri, Dec 18$85+0.1%86d
Fri, Jan 15$85+0.1%114d
Fri, Feb 19$75-11.6%149d
Fri, Mar 19$70-17.5%177d
Fri, May 21$60-29.3%240d
Thu, Jun 17$90+6.0%267d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8535567798119140$7M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85356072.590115140506506
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GPN 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

spot85356072.5901151401010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35567798119140104%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot356072.590115140+$41K$41K
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
0.91-0.02650.00860.07-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.0267.50.01040.08-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.02700.01250.10-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.0372.50.01470.11-0.03-0.19
0.78-0.03750.01700.13-0.03-0.23
0.73-0.0377.50.01920.14-0.03-0.28
0.68-0.04800.02110.15-0.04-0.33
0.56-0.04850.02350.16-0.04-0.45
0.45-0.04900.02370.16-0.04-0.56
0.34-0.04950.02190.15-0.04-0.67
0.26-0.031000.01890.13-0.03-0.77
0.19-0.031050.01560.11-0.03-0.84
0.14-0.021100.01250.09-0.02-0.90
0.10-0.021150.00980.07-0.02-0.94
0.07-0.011200.00760.06-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot406577.5901051301K0
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

spot356077.59512516016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 51K call contracts, 21K 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: GPN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk