Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:18 AM ET

MDGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$440.33
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$500+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.25±17.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.452K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$540largest call OI
Put wall$500largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$899Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

Event risk before this expiration: 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$480+9.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$500+13.6%51d
Fri, Jan 15$420-4.6%79d
Fri, Mar 19$500+13.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$500+13.6%170d
Fri, Dec 17$510+15.8%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot500140288436584732880$115M$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 — 500 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5001402203204205207201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDGL 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

spot50014022032042052072022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140288436584732880147%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 240180250350440560740+$572K−$572K
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
0.81-0.253700.00260.45-0.27-0.19
0.78-0.283800.00290.49-0.29-0.22
0.75-0.303900.00310.53-0.31-0.25
0.71-0.324000.00340.57-0.33-0.29
0.68-0.334100.00360.60-0.34-0.32
0.64-0.354200.00380.62-0.35-0.36
0.60-0.364300.00390.64-0.36-0.40
0.56-0.364400.00400.66-0.37-0.44
0.52-0.374500.00410.66-0.37-0.48
0.48-0.374600.00410.66-0.37-0.53
0.44-0.364700.00400.66-0.37-0.56
0.40-0.364800.00400.65-0.36-0.60
0.37-0.354900.00380.63-0.35-0.64
0.34-0.345000.00370.61-0.34-0.67
0.31-0.335100.00360.58-0.33-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 59 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1402803905006107601K0
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

spot1402103404706007402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 4K 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: MDGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk