Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:17 AM ET

MO max pain

Spot (delayed)$71.56
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$65-9.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.88±8.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.5320K puts / 37K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3026.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

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$69-3.6%2d
Fri, Oct 23$71-0.8%9d
Fri, Oct 30$69-3.6%16d
Fri, Nov 6$70-2.2%23d
Fri, Nov 13$70-2.2%30d
Fri, Nov 20$70-2.2%37d
Fri, Nov 27$71-0.8%44d
Fri, Dec 18$65-9.2%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot653044587286100$93M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot653042.55567.5801006K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MO 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

spot653042.55567.580100159159
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot304458728610086%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 32.53042.55567.580100+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.98-0.00550.00530.02-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0057.50.00810.02-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01600.01290.03-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0162.50.02050.05-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.01650.03080.07-0.01-0.16
0.75-0.0267.50.04210.10-0.02-0.25
0.63-0.02700.05130.12-0.02-0.37
0.50-0.0272.50.05490.12-0.02-0.51
0.37-0.02750.05210.12-0.02-0.65
0.26-0.0277.50.04430.10-0.02-0.77
0.17-0.01800.03430.08-0.01-0.87
0.11-0.0182.50.02490.06-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01850.01760.04-0.01-0.99
0.04-0.01900.00900.02-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00950.00510.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot405762.568748012K0
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

spot2547.56067.57582.524K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 172K call contracts, 123K 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: MO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk