Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 11:09 PM ET

IEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.25
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$6+14.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±14.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.052K puts / 44K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3042.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$85Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$6+14.3%21d
Fri, Dec 18$6+14.3%49d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5+42.9%77d
Fri, Mar 19$7+33.3%140d
Thu, Jun 17$10+90.5%230d
Fri, Jan 21$7.5+42.9%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot614791215$12M$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 — 6 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6157.51012.51518K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IEP 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

spot6157.51012.515507507
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot579111315147%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 5157.51012.515+$19K−$19K
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
1.00—10.00080.00-0.00-0.01
1.00—2.50.00520.00-0.00-0.05
0.78-0.0050.66210.01-0.00-0.55
0.24-0.0060.35530.01-0.00-0.88
0.13-0.007.50.14570.00-0.00-0.95
0.09-0.0090.09170.00—-0.97
0.08-0.00100.07350.00—-0.98
0.07-0.00110.06140.00—-0.98
0.06-0.0012.50.04940.00—-0.99
0.05-0.00140.04150.00—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.5111422.525K0
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

spot147.5111422.526K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 137K call contracts, 38K 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: IEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk