Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:25 PM ET

MBB max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.29
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85-6.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.3±2.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.37358 puts / 959 calls
Call wall$79largest call OI
Put wall$88largest put OI
IV307.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$373Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $88

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$90-1.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$85-6.9%54d
Fri, Mar 19$89-2.5%145d
Thu, Jun 17$92+0.8%235d
Fri, Sep 17$80-12.4%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8579848995100105$2M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85798588919497200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBB 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

spot857985889194971212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8387929610110516%7%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 7.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 88798588919497+$195K−$195K
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
0.98-0.00840.01680.02-0.00-0.05
0.97-0.00850.02460.03-0.00-0.06
0.95-0.00860.03530.04-0.01-0.09
0.92-0.01870.05020.06-0.01-0.12
0.88-0.01880.07150.07-0.01-0.17
0.81-0.01890.10170.10-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01900.13830.12-0.01-0.36
0.56-0.01910.16450.14-0.01-0.51
0.40-0.01920.15830.13-0.01-0.66
0.27-0.01930.12700.12-0.01-0.77
0.18-0.01940.09300.10-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.01950.06590.07-0.01-0.90
0.08-0.00960.04690.06-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00970.03380.05-0.00-0.95
0.01-0.001050.00440.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot79899193959811K0
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

spot657381899710511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 1K 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: MBB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk