Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:59 PM ET

KD max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.76
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$10-32.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.8±19.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.423K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3071.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$41Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$12-18.7%27d
Fri, Dec 18$10-32.2%55d
Fri, Jan 15$13-11.9%83d
Fri, Mar 19$13-11.9%146d
Thu, Jun 17$15+1.6%236d
Fri, Jan 21$10-32.2%454d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot102711162025$8M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10281216203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KD 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

spot10281216207979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2711162025237%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1059131721+$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
0.96-0.0080.01480.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0190.02190.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01100.03230.01-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01110.04660.01-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01120.06440.01-0.01-0.18
0.74-0.01130.08360.02-0.01-0.26
0.64-0.01140.09980.02-0.01-0.36
0.53-0.01150.10840.02-0.01-0.47
0.43-0.01160.10800.02-0.01-0.58
0.34-0.01170.10020.02-0.01-0.67
0.26-0.01180.08800.02-0.01-0.75
0.20-0.01190.07460.02-0.01-0.81
0.15-0.01200.06150.01-0.01-0.86
0.11-0.01210.04990.01-0.01-0.90
0.08-0.01220.04000.01-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot19152127505K0
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

spot18152230506K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 18K 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: KD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk