Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 3:00 AM ET

ICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$162.74
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$145-10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.25±8.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.845K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3027.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$953Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $165

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 30$160-1.7%6d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.8%13d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.8%20d
Fri, Nov 20$160-1.7%27d
Fri, Nov 27$150-7.8%34d
Fri, Dec 4$155-4.8%41d
Fri, Dec 18$145-10.9%55d
Fri, Jan 15$155-4.8%83d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.4%146d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14570108146184222260$53M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot145701001301601902401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICE 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

spot1457010013016019024077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85120155190225260104%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16580110140170200260+$315K−$315K
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
0.96-0.021300.00380.06-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.021350.00560.08-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.031400.00820.10-0.03-0.10
0.86-0.041450.01150.14-0.04-0.14
0.80-0.051500.01550.18-0.05-0.21
0.71-0.051550.01950.21-0.05-0.30
0.61-0.061600.02270.24-0.06-0.40
0.49-0.061650.02400.25-0.06-0.52
0.38-0.061700.02290.24-0.06-0.64
0.27-0.051750.02000.21-0.05-0.74
0.20-0.041800.01630.18-0.04-0.82
0.14-0.031850.01260.14-0.04-0.89
0.09-0.031900.00950.11-0.03-0.94
0.07-0.021950.00700.08-0.02-0.97
0.05-0.022000.00510.06-0.01-0.99

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

spot1351501601701801K0
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

spot70120141152.5177.52205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 15K 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: ICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk