Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 19, 6:50 PM ET

JEF max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.07
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$52.5+21.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.58±12.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI3.143K puts / 812 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3039.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$159Kper 1% move

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$47.5+10.3%32d
Fri, Dec 18$52.5+21.9%60d
Fri, Jan 15$57.5+33.5%88d
Fri, Mar 19$47.5+10.3%151d
Thu, Jun 17$50+16.1%241d
Fri, Jan 21$52.5+21.9%459d
Fri, Jan 19$57.5+33.5%823d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52.5253749617385$5M$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 — 52.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot52.52537.547.557.567.585656656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JEF 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

spot52.52537.547.557.567.58566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25374961738589%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2537.547.557.567.585+$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
0.990.00250.00250.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.01300.00860.01-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0132.50.01490.02-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01350.02460.03-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.0237.50.03740.04-0.02-0.19
0.71-0.02400.05100.06-0.02-0.30
0.57-0.0242.50.05990.07-0.02-0.44
0.42-0.02450.05960.07-0.02-0.59
0.30-0.0247.50.05150.06-0.02-0.72
0.21-0.02500.04090.05-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.0152.50.03120.04-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01550.02360.03-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.0157.50.01790.03-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.01600.01370.02-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2037.552.567.582.51051K0
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

spot20355065801003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K 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: JEF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk