Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:37 PM ET

MDY max pain

Spot (delayed)$660.16
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$665+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.25±5.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.18848 puts / 389 calls
Call wall$680largest call OI
Put wall$590largest put OI
IV3017.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$575Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $540

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$665+0.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$665+0.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$675+2.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$670+1.5%144d
Thu, Jun 17$655-0.8%234d
Fri, Dec 17$745+12.9%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot665435518601684767850$15M$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 — 665 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot665435555605660705750497497
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDY 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

spot6654355556056607057502626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot43551860168476785051%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 17.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 540435555605660710760+$628K−$628K
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
0.83-0.136150.00450.66-0.14-0.18
0.81-0.136200.00500.72-0.14-0.20
0.76-0.146300.00600.81-0.15-0.25
0.71-0.156400.00710.90-0.15-0.31
0.67-0.156450.00770.93-0.15-0.34
0.64-0.156500.00830.98-0.15-0.38
0.60-0.156550.00880.99-0.15-0.42
0.55-0.156600.00921.02-0.15-0.47
0.51-0.156650.00941.02-0.15-0.51
0.46-0.156700.00951.02-0.15-0.56
0.41-0.146750.00941.00-0.14-0.61
0.37-0.146800.00910.98-0.14-0.65
0.32-0.136850.00870.93-0.13-0.69
0.28-0.136900.00810.87-0.13-0.73
0.25-0.126950.00750.83-0.12-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4355856557007458153290
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

spot3704805806506957504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 43K 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: MDY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk