Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 11:54 PM ET

OKTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$185.26
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$130-29.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.9±23.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.6017K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3061.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$421Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$205+10.7%7d
Fri, Oct 30$210+13.4%14d
Fri, Nov 6$205+10.7%21d
Fri, Nov 13$200+8.0%28d
Fri, Nov 20$165-10.9%35d
Fri, Nov 27$215+16.1%42d
Fri, Dec 18$130-29.8%63d
Fri, Jan 15$110-40.6%91d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1304088136184232280$132M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot130407092.51301752403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OKTA 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

spot130407092.5130175240170170
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4088136184232280211%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1255580100140180240+$98K−$98K
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
0.82-0.121500.00460.21-0.12-0.18
0.79-0.131550.00510.23-0.13-0.21
0.76-0.141600.00550.24-0.14-0.24
0.73-0.151650.00590.26-0.15-0.28
0.69-0.161700.00630.27-0.16-0.31
0.66-0.161750.00660.29-0.17-0.34
0.62-0.171800.00680.30-0.17-0.38
0.59-0.171850.00700.30-0.17-0.42
0.55-0.171900.00710.31-0.18-0.45
0.52-0.171950.00720.31-0.18-0.49
0.48-0.172000.00720.31-0.18-0.52
0.42-0.172100.00710.30-0.17-0.59
0.36-0.162200.00680.29-0.17-0.65
0.30-0.152300.00630.27-0.16-0.71
0.26-0.142400.00580.25-0.15-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot90148175202.52302655050
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

spot37.57097.51351752405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 74K call contracts, 86K 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: OKTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk