Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:11 PM ET

HAS max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.55
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$92.5-22.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.55±9.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.922K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$92.5largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$220Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $92.5

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$105-11.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-22.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$97.5-17.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$100-15.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$95-19.9%172d
Thu, Jun 17$100-15.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot92.5406386109132155$10M$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 — 92.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot92.5406077.592.51151451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HAS 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

spot92.5406077.592.511514511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot557595115135155100%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 92.542.5658095120150+$63K−$63K
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
0.96-0.0192.50.00530.04-0.02-0.05
0.95-0.02950.00690.05-0.02-0.07
0.93-0.0297.50.00880.06-0.03-0.08
0.91-0.031000.01100.07-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.041050.01640.11-0.04-0.17
0.75-0.041100.02230.14-0.05-0.26
0.62-0.051150.02690.17-0.05-0.38
0.48-0.051200.02840.18-0.05-0.52
0.35-0.051250.02620.17-0.05-0.66
0.24-0.041300.02180.14-0.04-0.77
0.16-0.031350.01670.11-0.03-0.85
0.11-0.031400.01230.09-0.02-0.90
0.07-0.021450.00880.06-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.011500.00620.05-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.011550.00440.03-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5067.582.597.51251552K0
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

spot254565851101504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 23K 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: HAS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk