Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:10 AM ET

JKHY max pain

Spot (delayed)$158.25
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$140-11.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.4±9.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.05324 puts / 308 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3033.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$155-2.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$140-11.5%51d
Fri, Mar 19$150-5.2%142d
Thu, Jun 17$120-24.2%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14080108136164192220$2M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot14080105130155180210137137
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JKHY 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

spot1408010513015518021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot80108136164192220115%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16080105130155180210+$18K−$18K
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
0.93-0.031250.00490.08-0.04-0.07
0.91-0.041300.00650.10-0.04-0.10
0.88-0.041350.00850.12-0.05-0.13
0.83-0.051400.01110.15-0.06-0.17
0.78-0.061450.01400.18-0.06-0.23
0.70-0.071500.01720.21-0.07-0.30
0.61-0.071550.01990.23-0.07-0.40
0.51-0.071600.02140.24-0.07-0.50
0.41-0.071650.02100.23-0.07-0.61
0.31-0.061700.01910.21-0.06-0.70
0.24-0.061750.01630.18-0.05-0.78
0.18-0.051800.01340.16-0.05-0.84
0.14-0.041850.01080.13-0.04-0.89
0.10-0.041900.00870.11-0.04-0.92
0.08-0.031950.00700.09-0.04-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001301501701902201690
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

spot75100125150175200169169
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 716 call contracts, 454 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: JKHY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk