Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 7:46 PM ET

GS max pain

Spot (delayed)$889.12
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$860-3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$87.73±9.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0432K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$1,100largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3032.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$599Kper 1% move

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 23$892.5+0.4%1d
Fri, Oct 30$897.5+0.9%8d
Fri, Nov 6$890+0.1%15d
Fri, Nov 13$900+1.2%22d
Fri, Nov 20$920+3.5%29d
Fri, Nov 27$880-1.0%36d
Fri, Dec 18$860-3.3%57d
Fri, Jan 15$890+0.1%85d
Fri, Feb 19$850-4.4%120d
Fri, Mar 19$960+8.0%148d
Fri, Apr 16$960+8.0%176d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot860195488781107413671660$1.9B$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 — 860 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot86019558077086095010802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GS 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

spot8601955807708609501080324324
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot195488781107413671660121%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5507408208759601060+$3.3M−$3.3M
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
0.71-0.328400.00311.20-0.34-0.30
0.68-0.348500.00331.25-0.35-0.34
0.64-0.358600.00341.30-0.36-0.37
0.63-0.368650.00351.32-0.37-0.39
0.61-0.368700.00351.33-0.37-0.41
0.59-0.378750.00361.36-0.37-0.42
0.57-0.378800.00361.37-0.37-0.44
0.54-0.378900.00371.38-0.37-0.48
0.50-0.379000.00371.39-0.37-0.51
0.43-0.369200.00371.37-0.35-0.59
0.41-0.369250.00361.36-0.34-0.60
0.36-0.349400.00351.30-0.32-0.66
0.32-0.339500.00341.26-0.30-0.69
0.29-0.329600.00321.20-0.28-0.72
0.28-0.319650.00321.18-0.28-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot580700835887.59259902K0
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

spot400750850925104013009K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 260K call contracts, 206K 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: GS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk