Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 11:36 PM ET

MGY max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.1
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$15-37.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.28±30.2% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.1027 puts / 273 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3036.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 28usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Oct 16$25+3.7%4d
Fri, Nov 20$22.5-6.6%39d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Oct 28)
Fri, Dec 18$25+3.7%67d
Fri, Mar 19$25+3.7%158d
Fri, Dec 17$15-37.8%431d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15151923273135$1M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1515202535115115
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MGY 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

spot151520253522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot15192327313541%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot15202535+$3K−$3K
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
0.940.00150.01490.04-0.00-0.09
0.88-0.0017.50.02360.06-0.00-0.15
0.80-0.00200.03260.08-0.00-0.23
0.70-0.0022.50.04030.09-0.00-0.34
0.59-0.00250.04520.10-0.00-0.45
0.39-0.00300.04560.10-0.00-0.68
0.24-0.00350.03710.08-0.00-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.517.522.530405K0
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

spot12.517.522.530406K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 6K 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: MGY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk