Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 10:10 AM ET

PLAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.01
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$10+42.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.43±63.1% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.24390 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3078.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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, Nov 20$7-0.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$7-0.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$10+42.7%80d
Fri, Apr 16$6-14.4%171d
Fri, Dec 17$10+42.7%416d
Fri, Jan 21$3-57.2%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1031120283745$4M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot1031320273542429429
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLAY open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot10313202735421515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot3112028374594%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 1031320273542+$708−$708
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.0030.02070.01-0.00-0.08
0.81-0.0050.04120.02-0.00-0.19
0.53-0.00100.06600.03-0.00-0.49
0.41-0.00130.06420.03-0.00-0.63
0.35-0.00150.06060.03-0.00-0.70
0.28-0.00180.05450.03-0.00-0.79
0.25-0.00200.05050.02-0.00-0.84
0.21-0.00230.04520.02-0.00-0.90
0.19-0.00250.04210.02-0.00-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot28142337557K0
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

spot17132030457K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 9K 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: PLAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk