Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 3:11 AM ET

MOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.9
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$24+27.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.28±17.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.6730K puts / 45K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3052.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$79Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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$22+16.4%3d
Fri, Oct 23$22+16.4%10d
Fri, Oct 30$22+16.4%17d
Fri, Nov 6$20.5+8.5%24d
Fri, Nov 13$22+16.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$23+21.7%38d
Fri, Nov 27$20+5.8%45d
Fri, Dec 18$24+27.0%66d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24101928374655$118M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot241017.524303642.58K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MOS 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

spot241017.524303642.5185185
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101928374655119%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 12.51017.524303642.5+$197K−$197K
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
0.99—100.00310.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0012.50.01580.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.00140.03340.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01150.04960.02-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.01160.06760.02-0.01-0.21
0.68-0.0117.50.09060.03-0.01-0.34
0.53-0.01190.10040.03-0.01-0.48
0.44-0.01200.09850.03-0.01-0.58
0.35-0.01210.09150.03-0.01-0.66
0.25-0.0122.50.07610.03-0.01-0.76
0.18-0.01240.06000.02-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.01250.05050.02-0.01-0.87
0.11-0.01260.04210.01-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.0127.50.03200.01-0.00-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1319222528318K0
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

spot1017.52226.53137.541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 230K call contracts, 157K 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: MOS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk