Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 1:56 AM ET

PG max pain

Spot (delayed)$146.08
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$145-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.95±8.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.7015K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3020.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $160
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 23usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 25$146-0.1%4d
Fri, Oct 2$145-0.7%11d
Fri, Oct 9$146-0.1%18d
Fri, Oct 16$145-0.7%25d
Fri, Oct 23$144-1.4%32d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 23)
Fri, Oct 30$143-2.1%39d
Fri, Nov 20$145-0.7%60d
Fri, Dec 18$145-0.7%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14580108136164192220$125M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot145801051301551802108K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PG 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

spot14580105130155180210633633
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8010813616419222076%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16080105130155180210+$3.2M$3.2M
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
0.981100.00230.03-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.001150.00360.04-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.011200.00580.07-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.011250.00910.10-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.021300.01350.15-0.02-0.14
0.79-0.021350.01850.21-0.03-0.21
0.69-0.031400.02330.25-0.03-0.32
0.56-0.031450.02650.28-0.03-0.45
0.43-0.031500.02690.28-0.03-0.59
0.30-0.031550.02420.25-0.03-0.72
0.20-0.021600.01960.20-0.02-0.83
0.12-0.021650.01430.15-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.011700.00990.11-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.011750.00690.08-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.011800.00500.06-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot95137142147155167.56K0
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

spot70120137147167.520537K37K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 172K call contracts, 132K 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: PG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk