Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 8:21 PM ET

MKSI max pain

Spot (delayed)$235.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$280+18.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.2±18.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.421K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3060.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$85Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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, Oct 16$230-2.3%2d
Fri, Nov 20$240+1.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$280+18.9%65d
Fri, Jan 15$260+10.4%93d
Fri, Feb 19$270+14.6%128d
Fri, Apr 16$240+1.9%184d
Fri, May 21$220-6.6%219d
Fri, Aug 20$210-10.8%310d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280130228326424522620$66M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot280130180250340430560823823
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MKSI 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

spot2801301802503404305608282
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot130228326424522620109%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 170130185250330410500+$121K−$121K
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
0.86-0.101850.00370.22-0.10-0.14
0.84-0.111900.00410.24-0.11-0.16
0.81-0.121950.00460.27-0.12-0.19
0.79-0.132000.00500.29-0.13-0.22
0.73-0.142100.00580.33-0.15-0.28
0.66-0.152200.00650.36-0.16-0.34
0.59-0.162300.00700.38-0.17-0.41
0.52-0.172400.00720.39-0.17-0.48
0.45-0.172500.00720.39-0.17-0.55
0.39-0.162600.00690.38-0.16-0.62
0.33-0.152700.00650.36-0.15-0.68
0.28-0.142800.00600.33-0.14-0.73
0.23-0.132900.00540.30-0.13-0.78
0.20-0.123000.00480.27-0.12-0.82
0.16-0.113100.00430.24-0.11-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101602103003904809970
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

spot1101602203204205401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K 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: MKSI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk