Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:46 AM ET

LAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.17
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$42+10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.5±14.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.412K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3051.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$52Kper 1% move

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$40+4.8%23d
Fri, Dec 18$42+10.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$35-8.3%79d
Fri, Mar 19$41+7.4%142d
Thu, Jun 17$25-34.5%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42253443526170$3M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot42253140444860842842
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAZ 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

spot42253140444860100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25344352617093%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot253140444860+$69K−$69K
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
0.98-0.01250.00840.01-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.02280.02210.01-0.01-0.09
0.92-0.02290.02790.02-0.02-0.11
0.89-0.02300.03250.02-0.02-0.13
0.86-0.02310.03690.03-0.02-0.16
0.78-0.02330.04350.04-0.02-0.22
0.69-0.02350.04980.05-0.02-0.31
0.58-0.03370.05700.06-0.03-0.42
0.40-0.02400.05910.06-0.02-0.60
0.35-0.02410.05670.05-0.02-0.65
0.30-0.02420.05320.05-0.02-0.70
0.26-0.02430.04890.05-0.02-0.75
0.22-0.02440.04440.04-0.02-0.79
0.19-0.02450.03980.04-0.02-0.82
0.16-0.01460.03550.04-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2535394347552K0
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

spot2030354045502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 5K 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: LAZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk