Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:40 PM ET

MRVL max pain

Spot (delayed)$234.25
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$200-14.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.68±20.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.26127K puts / 100K calls
Call wall$480largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3065.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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 30$235+0.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$260+11.0%11d
Fri, Nov 13$250+6.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$240+2.5%25d
Fri, Nov 27$280+19.5%32d
Fri, Dec 4$250+6.7%39d
Fri, Dec 18$200-14.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$185-21.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$240+2.5%116d
Fri, Mar 19$230-1.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$260+11.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20040128216304392480$2.1B$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot200407011016523033011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRVL 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

spot2004070110165230330496496
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot40128216304392480183%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 12075110160210300390+$2.6M−$2.6M
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
0.87-0.121800.00340.19-0.12-0.13
0.85-0.131850.00370.21-0.14-0.15
0.83-0.141900.00410.23-0.15-0.17
0.80-0.151950.00450.25-0.16-0.20
0.77-0.172000.00490.27-0.17-0.23
0.71-0.192100.00560.30-0.20-0.29
0.65-0.212200.00610.33-0.21-0.35
0.59-0.222300.00640.35-0.22-0.42
0.52-0.222400.00660.35-0.23-0.48
0.46-0.222500.00660.35-0.22-0.55
0.40-0.212600.00640.34-0.21-0.61
0.34-0.202700.00620.33-0.20-0.67
0.29-0.192800.00570.31-0.19-0.72
0.25-0.172900.00530.28-0.17-0.76
0.21-0.163000.00480.26-0.15-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1251852202502803355K0
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

spot2572.513019526037064K64K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 651K call contracts, 901K 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: MRVL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk