Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:45 AM ET

GVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$113.15
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$75-33.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.65±12.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.0827 puts / 336 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3036.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 5usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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$115+1.6%3d
Fri, Nov 20$100-11.6%38d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Nov 5)
Fri, Dec 18$75-33.7%66d
Fri, Mar 19$115+1.6%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot756594123152181210$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

spot7565105125145165190171171
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GVA 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

spot756510512514516519022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot659412315218121087%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65105125145165190+$4K−$4K
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
0.97-0.01650.00180.03-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.02750.00320.04-0.02-0.04
0.88-0.03900.00810.09-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.04950.01090.12-0.04-0.15
0.70-0.051050.01810.17-0.05-0.29
0.60-0.051100.02130.18-0.05-0.39
0.49-0.051150.02290.19-0.05-0.51
0.38-0.051200.02220.18-0.05-0.62
0.29-0.041250.01970.16-0.04-0.71
0.21-0.041300.01640.14-0.04-0.79
0.15-0.031350.01320.12-0.03-0.85
0.11-0.031400.01040.09-0.03-0.89
0.09-0.021450.00810.08-0.02-0.92
0.07-0.021500.00640.06-0.02-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651051301551852240
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

spot6085110135160185226226
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 796 call contracts, 128 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: GVA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk