Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:02 AM ET

PTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$193.81
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$190-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.75±7.1% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.553K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV302.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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$190-2.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$190-2.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$120-38.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$190-2.0%172d
Fri, Dec 17$190-2.0%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot190100124148172196220$15M$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 17

spot1901001201401752004K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTC 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

spot190100120140175200400400
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot11013215417619822028%2%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 7.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 145100120140175200+$3.9M−$3.9M
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
0.95—1400.00190.18-0.00-0.04
0.94—1450.00230.20-0.00-0.04
0.94—1500.00270.22-0.00-0.05
0.890.001700.00620.36-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.001750.00780.41-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.001850.01340.54-0.01-0.20
0.77-0.001900.01820.62-0.01-0.28
0.69-0.001950.02590.72-0.01-0.46
0.57-0.002000.03830.80-0.02-0.96
0.07-0.002100.02600.39-0.02-1.00
0.010.002200.00370.10-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601001301601902409K0
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

spot609513016520027013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 17K 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: PTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk