Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 12:37 AM ET

J max pain

Spot (delayed)$142.2
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120-15.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.55±10.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.15190 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3030.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$346Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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 16$130-8.6%2d
Fri, Nov 20$135-5.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$120-15.6%65d
Fri, Jan 15$140-1.5%93d
Fri, Apr 16$145+2.0%184d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206087114141168195$6M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1206085110135160185549549
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)J 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

spot120608511013516018522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6591117143169195115%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 656085110135160185+$167K−$167K
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
0.95-0.011050.00350.06-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.021100.00480.07-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.021150.00670.09-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.031200.00910.12-0.03-0.12
0.83-0.041250.01230.15-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.041300.01600.18-0.04-0.23
0.68-0.051350.01960.21-0.05-0.32
0.57-0.051400.02220.23-0.05-0.43
0.46-0.051450.02260.24-0.05-0.54
0.36-0.051500.02100.22-0.05-0.64
0.27-0.041550.01810.20-0.04-0.73
0.21-0.041600.01500.17-0.04-0.79
0.16-0.041650.01220.15-0.03-0.84
0.12-0.031700.00980.12-0.03-0.88
0.10-0.031750.00790.10-0.02-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651001251501752106240
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

spot60901201501802201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 1K 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: J workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk