Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 3:22 AM ET

ODFL max pain

Spot (delayed)$181.91
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$200+9.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.35±12.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.322K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$416Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$180-1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$175-3.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$200+9.9%66d
Fri, Jan 15$185+1.7%94d
Fri, Apr 16$185+1.7%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20080132184236288340$20M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot20080120150180220280478478
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ODFL 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

spot200801201501802202803535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8513618723828934091%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 8580120150180220280+$167K−$167K
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
0.92-0.031450.00470.12-0.04-0.09
0.89-0.041500.00590.15-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.051550.00720.18-0.05-0.14
0.82-0.061600.00880.21-0.06-0.18
0.77-0.061650.01030.24-0.07-0.23
0.71-0.071700.01190.27-0.07-0.29
0.65-0.081750.01320.29-0.08-0.35
0.58-0.081800.01420.30-0.08-0.42
0.51-0.081850.01470.31-0.08-0.50
0.44-0.081900.01470.31-0.08-0.57
0.37-0.071950.01420.29-0.08-0.65
0.30-0.072000.01320.27-0.07-0.71
0.20-0.062100.01050.22-0.06-0.82
0.13-0.042200.00770.17-0.05-0.90
0.08-0.032300.00550.12-0.04-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701151501852403105680
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

spot65105145185250330992992
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: ODFL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk