Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:45 PM ET

MAT max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.57
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$16-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.08±18.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3211K puts / 36K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3047.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$823Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

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$15-9.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$16-3.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$15-9.5%82d
Fri, Feb 19$16-3.4%117d
Fri, Mar 19$16-3.4%145d
Fri, Apr 16$15-9.5%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot165812151922$18M$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1651215182122K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MAT 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

spot165121518215K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101215172022137%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 12512151821+$676K−$676K
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
0.96-0.00100.01610.01-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.00110.02410.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.01120.03610.01-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.01130.05340.01-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01140.07630.02-0.01-0.19
0.73-0.01150.10160.02-0.01-0.28
0.61-0.01160.12120.03-0.01-0.40
0.49-0.01170.12720.03-0.01-0.52
0.37-0.01180.11920.02-0.01-0.64
0.28-0.01190.10330.02-0.01-0.74
0.21-0.01200.08540.02-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01210.06890.01-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.01220.05500.01-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1914192450K0
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

spot171319253251K51K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 227K call contracts, 95K 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: MAT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk