Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 7:33 PM ET

LOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$195.76
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$220+12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.6±12.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.806K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$649Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 18usually after the close

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, Sep 25$195-0.4%3d
Fri, Oct 2$200+2.2%10d
Fri, Oct 9$200+2.2%17d
Fri, Oct 16$210+7.3%24d
Fri, Oct 23$200+2.2%31d
Fri, Oct 30$195-0.4%38d
Fri, Nov 20$190-2.9%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Nov 18)
Fri, Dec 18$220+12.4%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot220110174238302366430$141M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2201101451802303003701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOW 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

spot2201101451802303003706K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11017423830236643080%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 145110145180230300370+$254K$254K
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
0.91-0.031600.00510.16-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.031650.00640.19-0.04-0.12
0.84-0.041700.00780.23-0.04-0.16
0.80-0.051750.00930.27-0.05-0.21
0.74-0.051800.01070.31-0.06-0.26
0.68-0.061850.01190.34-0.06-0.32
0.62-0.061900.01280.36-0.07-0.39
0.55-0.071950.01340.38-0.07-0.46
0.49-0.072000.01360.38-0.07-0.53
0.36-0.062100.01290.36-0.06-0.66
0.25-0.052200.01100.30-0.05-0.78
0.16-0.042300.00860.23-0.04-0.87
0.10-0.032400.00610.17-0.02-0.93
0.06-0.022500.00410.12-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.012600.00270.08-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150182.5197.5212.52352905770
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

spot100155190217.52653409K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 51K 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: LOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk