Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 11:03 PM ET

MNST max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.72
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.68±10.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.1612K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$37.5largest put OI
IV3029.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

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$43-1.6%4d
Fri, Nov 20$43-1.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$40-8.5%67d
Fri, Jan 15$40-8.5%95d
Fri, Mar 19$43.75+0.1%158d
Thu, Jun 17$47.5+8.6%248d
Fri, Sep 17$30-31.4%340d
Fri, Jan 21$27.5-37.1%466d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40132436475970$29M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4012.526.2533.7541.2548.7562.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MNST 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

spot4012.526.2533.7541.2548.7562.52626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot152637485970112%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 32.512.526.2533.7541.2548.7562.5+$356K−$356K
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
0.93-0.01350.01860.03-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0136.250.02470.03-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.0137.50.03200.04-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.0138.750.04050.05-0.01-0.17
0.77-0.01400.04950.06-0.01-0.23
0.70-0.0141.250.05790.07-0.01-0.30
0.62-0.0242.50.06450.07-0.02-0.38
0.54-0.0243.750.06820.08-0.02-0.47
0.46-0.02450.06850.08-0.02-0.55
0.38-0.0246.250.06550.07-0.02-0.64
0.30-0.0147.50.06000.07-0.01-0.71
0.24-0.0148.750.05300.06-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.01500.04560.05-0.01-0.83
0.12-0.0152.50.03180.04-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01550.02120.03-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.528.7538.7543.7548.75653K0
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

spot12.5283742.548658K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 56K 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: MNST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk