Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 2:31 AM ET

MTW max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.15
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$13-43.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.78±20.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.0746 puts / 703 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3071.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

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$22-5.0%22d
Fri, Dec 18$13-43.8%50d
Fri, Mar 19$17-26.6%141d
Thu, Jun 17$22-5.0%231d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13101418222630$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot131015192327334334
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTW 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

spot13101519232711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot101418222630167%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 131015192327+$3K−$3K
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
0.90-0.01160.02290.02-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01170.02840.02-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01180.03510.02-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02190.04300.02-0.02-0.20
0.76-0.02200.05170.03-0.02-0.24
0.70-0.02210.06040.03-0.02-0.30
0.64-0.02220.06780.03-0.02-0.37
0.57-0.02230.07260.03-0.02-0.44
0.49-0.02240.07400.03-0.02-0.51
0.42-0.02250.07220.03-0.02-0.58
0.36-0.02260.06820.03-0.02-0.65
0.31-0.02270.06300.03-0.02-0.70
0.27-0.02280.05730.03-0.02-0.74
0.20-0.02300.04640.02-0.02-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11151923273420
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

spot31016222834342342
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 163 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: MTW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk