Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 6:25 AM ET

PANW max pain

Spot (delayed)$382
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$355-7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$63.38±16.6% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI3.8627 puts / 7 calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3063.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 1% move

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$372.5-2.5%6d
Fri, Nov 6$375-1.8%13d
Fri, Nov 13$370-3.1%20d
Fri, Nov 20$350-8.4%27d
Fri, Nov 27$405+6.0%34d
Fri, Dec 4$355-7.1%41d
Fri, Dec 18$260-31.9%55d
Fri, Jan 15$250-34.6%83d
Fri, Mar 19$310-18.8%146d
Fri, Apr 16$340-11.0%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot355285312339366393420$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 — 355 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot35528530533035539577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PANW open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot35528530533035539588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot28531233936639342068%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot285305330355405+$4K−$4K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.243150.00290.32-0.24-0.16
0.78-0.293300.00360.38-0.29-0.22
0.74-0.313400.00390.42-0.31-0.26
0.70-0.343500.00430.45-0.34-0.30
0.68-0.343550.00440.47-0.35-0.33
0.65-0.353600.00460.48-0.36-0.35
0.63-0.363650.00470.49-0.36-0.37
0.48-0.373950.00500.51-0.38-0.52
0.43-0.374050.00500.51-0.37-0.57
0.36-0.354200.00480.48-0.35-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1603053553854355104K0
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

spot514522030038052018K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 291K call contracts, 292K 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: PANW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk