Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:14 PM ET

OUST max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$30+2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.3±28.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.57350 puts / 611 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV30105.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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 30$33+12.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$35+19.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$33+12.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$36+22.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$30+2.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$35+19.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$30+2.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$25-14.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$40+36.3%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30202529343843$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot30202529333741120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OUST 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

spot3020252933374122
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot202529343843108%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 35202529333741+$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
0.83-0.03220.02260.03-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.03230.02520.03-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.03240.02760.03-0.03-0.23
0.73-0.03250.02980.04-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.04260.03170.04-0.04-0.30
0.66-0.04270.03330.04-0.04-0.34
0.63-0.04280.03460.04-0.04-0.37
0.59-0.04290.03550.04-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.04300.03610.04-0.04-0.45
0.52-0.04310.03640.04-0.04-0.48
0.49-0.04320.03640.04-0.04-0.51
0.45-0.04330.03610.04-0.04-0.55
0.42-0.04340.03560.04-0.04-0.58
0.39-0.04350.03490.04-0.04-0.61
0.37-0.04360.03400.04-0.04-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot182832.537.542481K0
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

spot3212835425211K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 37K 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: OUST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk