Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 2:49 PM ET

NTAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.21
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$195-14.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$41.3±18.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.715K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3054.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$832Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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$200-12.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$195-14.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$145-36.2%79d
Fri, Mar 19$200-12.0%142d
Thu, Jun 17$200-12.0%232d
Fri, Sep 17$240+5.6%324d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19550108166224282340$82M$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot19550901301702203002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NTAP 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

spot195509013017022030077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot50108166224282340187%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 15095125155185230290+$411K−$411K
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
0.87-0.101800.00390.18-0.11-0.13
0.85-0.111850.00440.20-0.12-0.15
0.82-0.131900.00500.23-0.14-0.18
0.79-0.141950.00550.25-0.15-0.21
0.76-0.152000.00600.27-0.16-0.24
0.69-0.182100.00680.30-0.18-0.32
0.61-0.192200.00740.33-0.19-0.39
0.54-0.202300.00770.34-0.20-0.47
0.46-0.202400.00770.34-0.20-0.54
0.39-0.192500.00740.33-0.19-0.61
0.33-0.182600.00700.31-0.18-0.68
0.27-0.162700.00640.28-0.16-0.74
0.22-0.152800.00570.25-0.14-0.79
0.18-0.132900.00500.22-0.13-0.83
0.14-0.113000.00430.19-0.11-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801201602002803K0
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

spot40851301752403303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 21K 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: NTAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk