Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 9:28 AM ET

NOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$148.2
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$124-16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.45±17.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.7063K puts / 89K calls
Call wall$164largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3062.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $144

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 23$142-4.2%2d
Fri, Oct 30$139-6.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$140-5.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$140-5.5%23d
Fri, Nov 20$130-12.3%30d
Fri, Nov 27$140-5.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$124-16.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$125-15.7%86d
Fri, Feb 19$135-8.9%121d
Fri, Mar 19$115-22.4%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12455113171228286344$1.5B$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 — 124 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12455951161341521808K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOW 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

spot12455951161341521801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot55113171228286344110%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1445595116134152180+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.71-0.101360.01000.20-0.10-0.29
0.69-0.101380.01030.21-0.10-0.31
0.67-0.101400.01070.22-0.10-0.33
0.65-0.101420.01100.22-0.11-0.36
0.62-0.111440.01120.23-0.11-0.38
0.61-0.111450.01130.23-0.11-0.39
0.60-0.111460.01140.23-0.11-0.40
0.55-0.111500.01170.24-0.11-0.45
0.53-0.111520.01180.24-0.11-0.47
0.49-0.111550.01180.24-0.11-0.51
0.48-0.111560.01180.24-0.11-0.52
0.44-0.111600.01170.24-0.11-0.57
0.40-0.111640.01150.23-0.11-0.61
0.39-0.111650.01140.23-0.11-0.62
0.34-0.101700.01090.22-0.10-0.67

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

spot701151271381491806K0
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

spot459212014417224446K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 569K call contracts, 504K 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: NOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk