Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 3:25 PM ET

PM max pain

Spot (delayed)$202.43
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$190-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.55±9.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.1012K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$175largest put OI
IV3030.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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 16$195-3.7%2d
Fri, Oct 23$192.5-4.9%9d
Fri, Oct 30$195-3.7%16d
Fri, Nov 6$200-1.2%23d
Fri, Nov 13$195-3.7%30d
Fri, Nov 20$185-8.6%37d
Fri, Nov 27$190-6.1%44d
Fri, Dec 18$190-6.1%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19075116157198239280$105M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot190751101401702002603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PM 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

spot190751101401702002602323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot80120160200240280104%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 200100125150175200250+$1.6M−$1.6M
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
0.94-0.021650.00400.10-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.031700.00540.13-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.041750.00700.16-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.041800.00900.20-0.05-0.15
0.80-0.051850.01100.24-0.06-0.20
0.74-0.061900.01300.28-0.06-0.27
0.67-0.071950.01480.31-0.07-0.34
0.59-0.072000.01600.33-0.07-0.42
0.42-0.072100.01640.34-0.07-0.59
0.28-0.062200.01420.29-0.06-0.74
0.16-0.042300.01050.21-0.05-0.87
0.09-0.032400.00700.15-0.04-0.95
0.06-0.022500.00450.10-0.02-0.99
0.04-0.022600.00300.07-0.02-1.00
0.03-0.012700.00210.05-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150180192.5205217.52403K0
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

spot60115162.5190217.525515K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 77K call contracts, 74K 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: PM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk