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

MDY max pain

Spot (delayed)$660.16
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$655-0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$76.6±11.6% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI3.5812K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$655largest call OI
Put wall$560largest put OI
IV3017.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $410

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

spot655330460590720850980$299M$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 — 655 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot6553305306206907708303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDY open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot65533053062069077083011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot33046059072085098041%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 17.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 410330530620690770830+$2.7M−$2.7M
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.75-0.076150.00301.71-0.07-0.27
0.73-0.076200.00311.75-0.08-0.28
0.70-0.076300.00341.81-0.08-0.31
0.67-0.076400.00361.92-0.08-0.35
0.65-0.076450.00381.95-0.08-0.37
0.64-0.076500.00391.97-0.08-0.39
0.62-0.076550.00402.02-0.08-0.41
0.60-0.076600.00412.04-0.08-0.43
0.58-0.076650.00422.06-0.08-0.46
0.56-0.076700.00432.07-0.09-0.48
0.51-0.076800.00442.10-0.08-0.53
0.47-0.076900.00452.09-0.08-0.58
0.42-0.077000.00452.07-0.08-0.64
0.38-0.077100.00452.01-0.08-0.69
0.34-0.067200.00441.94-0.07-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 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