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

MDGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$440.33
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$510+15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$205±46.6% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.54496 puts / 918 calls
Call wall$700largest call OI
Put wall$560largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$102Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $390

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

spot510240360480600720840$17M$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 — 510 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot510240400480550620740297297
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDGL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot51024040048055062074011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot24036048060072084064%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 390240400480550620740+$86K−$86K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.053000.00081.14-0.08-0.16
0.78-0.073500.00111.40-0.10-0.23
0.75-0.083700.00121.49-0.10-0.26
0.73-0.093900.00121.57-0.11-0.29
0.71-0.094000.00131.61-0.11-0.30
0.70-0.094100.00131.64-0.11-0.32
0.68-0.104200.00131.68-0.11-0.33
0.66-0.104400.00141.73-0.11-0.36
0.64-0.104500.00141.76-0.12-0.38
0.63-0.104600.00141.78-0.12-0.39
0.61-0.104700.00151.80-0.12-0.41
0.60-0.114800.00151.82-0.12-0.42
0.58-0.114900.00151.83-0.12-0.44
0.57-0.115000.00151.85-0.12-0.46
0.56-0.115100.00151.86-0.12-0.47

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 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