Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:25 AM ET

PLTU max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.96
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$56-8.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.7±35.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.1514 puts / 94 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$53largest put OI
IV30129.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$56-8.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$56-8.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$30-50.8%82d
Fri, Apr 16$42-31.1%173d
Fri, Jan 21$36-40.9%453d
Fri, Jan 19$50-18.0%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot56404856647280$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 — 56 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot564053566164755858
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLTU 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

spot564053566164751313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot404856647280128%110%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 115.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 45405356616475+$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
0.74-0.08500.01130.08-0.08-0.25
0.70-0.09530.01230.08-0.09-0.29
0.69-0.09540.01260.08-0.09-0.31
0.68-0.09550.01280.09-0.09-0.32
0.66-0.09560.01310.09-0.09-0.34
0.62-0.09590.01380.09-0.09-0.38
0.60-0.09600.01400.09-0.09-0.39
0.59-0.10610.01410.09-0.10-0.41
0.58-0.10620.01420.09-0.10-0.42
0.56-0.10630.01440.09-0.10-0.44
0.55-0.10640.01450.09-0.10-0.45
0.53-0.10650.01460.10-0.10-0.46
0.47-0.10700.01470.10-0.10-0.53
0.40-0.09750.01440.09-0.09-0.60
0.35-0.09800.01380.09-0.09-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot1430405060808790
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

spot142638506274879879
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: PLTU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk