Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 10:25 PM ET

MRK max pain

Spot (delayed)$145.66
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$145-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13±8.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9826K puts / 27K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3036.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$818Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 29usually before the open

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$140-3.9%4d
Fri, Oct 23$144-1.1%11d
Fri, Oct 30$140-3.9%18d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Oct 29)
Fri, Nov 6$143-1.8%25d
Fri, Nov 13$140-3.9%32d
Fri, Nov 20$145-0.5%39d
Fri, Nov 27$146+0.2%46d
Fri, Dec 18$120-17.6%67d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1456596127158189220$184M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145651051301551802109K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRK open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot145651051301551802102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot659612715818922092%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8580110135160185220+$3.3M−$3.3M
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.011100.00230.02-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.011150.00360.03-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.021200.00580.05-0.03-0.05
0.91-0.031250.00910.08-0.04-0.09
0.85-0.051300.01340.11-0.05-0.15
0.77-0.061350.01800.14-0.07-0.23
0.67-0.081400.02190.17-0.08-0.34
0.55-0.081450.02410.19-0.08-0.45
0.43-0.081500.02400.19-0.08-0.58
0.32-0.071550.02190.17-0.08-0.69
0.23-0.061600.01840.14-0.06-0.79
0.15-0.051650.01450.11-0.05-0.86
0.10-0.041700.01080.09-0.04-0.92
0.07-0.031750.00780.07-0.03-0.96
0.05-0.021800.00580.05-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6513214014816518515K0
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

spot409513214316019023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 295K call contracts, 222K 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: MRK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk