Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:26 AM ET

LPLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$325
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$330+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.1±13.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.34862 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3046.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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$340+4.6%29d
Fri, Dec 18$330+1.5%57d
Fri, Jan 15$340+4.6%85d
Fri, Apr 16$220-32.3%176d
Fri, Aug 20$330+1.5%302d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330155224293362431500$36M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3301551952603304004801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LPLA 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

spot3301551952603304004804848
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot16022829636443250090%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 160155200270340410490+$877K−$877K
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
0.92-0.072500.00240.20-0.08-0.08
0.89-0.092600.00310.24-0.10-0.11
0.85-0.112700.00380.30-0.12-0.15
0.81-0.132800.00460.35-0.14-0.19
0.76-0.152900.00550.40-0.15-0.24
0.70-0.163000.00620.45-0.17-0.31
0.63-0.173100.00690.48-0.18-0.37
0.56-0.183200.00740.51-0.18-0.45
0.48-0.183300.00750.51-0.18-0.52
0.41-0.173400.00740.50-0.17-0.60
0.34-0.163500.00710.47-0.16-0.67
0.28-0.153600.00650.43-0.15-0.74
0.22-0.133700.00580.38-0.13-0.79
0.18-0.113800.00510.33-0.11-0.84
0.14-0.103900.00430.28-0.09-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1351852503203904701K0
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

spot1351752303103904701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: LPLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk