Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:06 PM ET

MSTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.96
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$160+13.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.68±18.2% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI0.751K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3071.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$11Kper 1% move

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$144+2.2%3d
Fri, Nov 6$157.5+11.7%10d
Fri, Nov 13$160+13.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$135-4.2%24d
Fri, Nov 27$155+10.0%31d
Fri, Dec 4$160+13.5%38d
Fri, Dec 18$160+13.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$150+6.4%80d
Fri, Mar 19$145+2.9%143d
Fri, Apr 16$145+2.9%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1606099138177216255$14M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot16060105140175210245355355
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSTR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot160601051401752102459494
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot6099138177216255164%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot60105140175210245+$55K−$55K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.081050.00480.08-0.08-0.10
0.87-0.091100.00590.10-0.10-0.13
0.84-0.111150.00720.11-0.11-0.17
0.79-0.121200.00850.13-0.13-0.21
0.74-0.141250.00970.15-0.14-0.26
0.69-0.151300.01080.16-0.15-0.32
0.63-0.161350.01160.17-0.16-0.37
0.57-0.171400.01210.18-0.17-0.43
0.51-0.171450.01240.18-0.17-0.50
0.45-0.171500.01230.18-0.17-0.56
0.39-0.161550.01190.17-0.16-0.61
0.34-0.151600.01140.17-0.15-0.67
0.29-0.141650.01060.16-0.14-0.71
0.25-0.131700.00980.14-0.13-0.76
0.21-0.121750.00890.13-0.12-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50112133146172.522040K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-1208-2709-1109-2810-13169.8892.62
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot57514119531060074K74K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.4M call contracts, 1.1M 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: MSTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk