Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 1:29 AM ET

MSI max pain

Spot (delayed)$491.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$400-18.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$118±24.0% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.5968 puts / 116 calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3034.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $310

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$460-6.4%19d
Fri, Dec 18$460-6.4%47d
Fri, Jan 15$380-22.7%75d
Fri, Apr 16$410-16.6%166d
Fri, Dec 17$400-18.6%411d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot400250320390460530600$1M$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 — 400 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot4002503104004805305906161
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSI open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot40025031040048053059011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot25032039046053060035%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 310250310400480530590+$38K−$38K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.023700.00131.03-0.04-0.13
0.87-0.023800.00141.15-0.04-0.14
0.83-0.034000.00161.33-0.05-0.18
0.81-0.044100.00181.42-0.05-0.20
0.79-0.044200.00191.48-0.05-0.22
0.75-0.054400.00211.66-0.06-0.27
0.65-0.064800.00251.93-0.07-0.38
0.63-0.064900.00261.97-0.07-0.41
0.60-0.065000.00272.01-0.07-0.43
0.57-0.065100.00272.03-0.07-0.46
0.52-0.065300.00282.06-0.07-0.53
0.50-0.065400.00282.06-0.07-0.56
0.45-0.065600.00282.04-0.07-0.62
0.40-0.065800.00272.00-0.07-0.68
0.38-0.065900.00271.96-0.07-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2503604204805406202K0
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

spot2403204004805606402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 2K 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: MSI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk