Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 5:31 PM ET

IDCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.15
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$310-6.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.15±13.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.771K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$579Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $310

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$330-0.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$290-12.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$200-39.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$450+35.5%234d
Fri, Dec 17$320-3.7%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31095192289386483580$37M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot31095145195290390490480480
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IDCC 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

spot3109514519529039049055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot95192289386483580169%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 310115165220320410500+$358K−$358K
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
0.92-0.072600.00230.18-0.08-0.08
0.90-0.092700.00300.23-0.10-0.10
0.86-0.112800.00380.28-0.12-0.14
0.82-0.132900.00460.34-0.14-0.18
0.77-0.153000.00540.39-0.16-0.24
0.70-0.173100.00620.44-0.18-0.30
0.64-0.193200.00680.48-0.20-0.37
0.56-0.203300.00710.50-0.20-0.44
0.49-0.203400.00720.51-0.21-0.51
0.42-0.203500.00700.50-0.20-0.58
0.36-0.203600.00670.47-0.20-0.65
0.30-0.183700.00620.45-0.18-0.70
0.26-0.173800.00560.41-0.17-0.76
0.21-0.153900.00500.37-0.15-0.80
0.18-0.144000.00440.33-0.14-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot951602403304205205170
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

spot95145195290390490531531
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: IDCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk