Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:39 AM ET

PNC max pain

Spot (delayed)$225.53
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$230+2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.2±7.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.375K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3022.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.6Mper 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 · 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 23$217.5-3.6%today
Fri, Oct 30$215-4.7%7d
Fri, Nov 6$225-0.2%14d
Fri, Nov 13$230+2.0%21d
Fri, Nov 20$220-2.5%28d
Fri, Nov 27$235+4.2%35d
Fri, Dec 18$230+2.0%56d
Fri, Jan 15$190-15.8%84d
Fri, Feb 19$230+2.0%119d
Fri, Mar 19$230+2.0%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23090144198252306360$50M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot230901351651952503102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PNC 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

spot230901351651952503104747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12517221926631336080%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot90135165195250310+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.96-0.001800.00270.08-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.011850.00360.10-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.021900.00470.12-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.021950.00610.15-0.04-0.09
0.88-0.032000.00780.18-0.04-0.12
0.79-0.052100.01240.26-0.06-0.21
0.64-0.072200.01710.33-0.07-0.36
0.46-0.072300.01950.35-0.07-0.55
0.27-0.062400.01710.30-0.05-0.75
0.14-0.042500.01140.20-0.03-0.90
0.07-0.022600.00650.12-0.04-0.99
0.04-0.012700.00390.08-0.07-1.00
0.03-0.012800.00270.06-0.08-1.00
0.02-0.012900.00200.05-0.08-1.00
0.02-0.013000.00160.04-0.08-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140207.52202302402704810
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

spot75135187.5217.5247.53003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 20K 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: PNC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk