Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 11:39 PM ET

LEA max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.64
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$125+3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16±13.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.5860 puts / 103 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3030.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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+7.8%27d
Fri, Nov 20$120-0.5%62d
Fri, Dec 18$125+3.6%90d
Fri, Mar 19$125+3.6%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1256592119146173200$1M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12565951201451751953131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEA 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

spot125659512014517519511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot659211914617320086%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1206595120145175195+$9K$9K
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
0.97-0.01700.00150.03-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01800.00280.05-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.02850.00380.07-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.03950.00690.10-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.031000.00920.13-0.03-0.14
0.81-0.031050.01210.16-0.03-0.20
0.75-0.041100.01530.19-0.04-0.26
0.57-0.041200.02020.23-0.04-0.45
0.47-0.041250.02040.24-0.04-0.55
0.38-0.041300.01910.23-0.04-0.63
0.24-0.041400.01460.18-0.04-0.77
0.19-0.031450.01240.16-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.031500.01050.14-0.03-0.86
0.13-0.031550.00880.13-0.03-0.89
0.11-0.021600.00750.11-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851251451651852101880
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

spot6090120150180220189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 452 call contracts, 208 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: LEA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk