Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 11:42 PM ET

MDT max pain

Spot (delayed)$94.78
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$90-5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.63±8.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.6017K puts / 29K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3026.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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, Oct 30$94-0.8%1d
Fri, Nov 6$95+0.2%8d
Fri, Nov 13$92-2.9%15d
Fri, Nov 20$90-5.0%22d
Fri, Nov 27$94-0.8%29d
Fri, Dec 4$93-1.9%36d
Fri, Dec 18$90-5.0%50d
Fri, Jan 15$90-5.0%78d
Fri, Feb 19$92.5-2.4%113d
Fri, Mar 19$87.5-7.7%141d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90486685103122140$136M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9047.567.58092.511013511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDT 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

spot9047.567.58092.5110135175175
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot557289106123140107%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 8547.567.58092.5110135+$2.1M−$2.1M
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
0.94-0.0177.50.00880.04-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.01800.01150.05-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.0282.50.01540.06-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02850.02070.08-0.02-0.14
0.81-0.0387.50.02700.10-0.03-0.20
0.73-0.03900.03310.12-0.03-0.28
0.64-0.0492.50.03820.13-0.04-0.37
0.54-0.04950.04110.14-0.04-0.47
0.44-0.0497.50.04110.14-0.04-0.57
0.34-0.031000.03840.13-0.04-0.68
0.18-0.021050.02800.10-0.03-0.84
0.10-0.021100.01720.06-0.02-0.94
0.06-0.011150.01120.04-0.01-0.98
0.05-0.011200.00810.04-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.011250.00630.03-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot558088941001109300
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

spot37.57082909811519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 112K call contracts, 85K 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: MDT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk