Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:35 AM ET

PTCT max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.07
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$75+22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.48±17.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.81410 puts / 507 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3064.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 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, Nov 20$65+6.4%24d
Fri, Dec 18$75+22.8%52d
Fri, Jan 15$70+14.6%80d
Fri, Mar 19$65+6.4%143d
Fri, Jan 21$30-50.9%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7535547392111130$2M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot753550658095115319319
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTCT 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

spot75355065809511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35547392111130126%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3550658095115+$22K−$22K
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
0.96-0.01350.00400.02-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.02400.00650.03-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.03450.01050.04-0.03-0.10
0.84-0.03500.01680.06-0.03-0.16
0.74-0.04550.02490.08-0.04-0.27
0.59-0.05600.03050.09-0.05-0.41
0.44-0.05650.02980.09-0.05-0.56
0.33-0.05700.02550.09-0.05-0.68
0.26-0.05750.02090.07-0.05-0.76
0.20-0.04800.01710.07-0.04-0.81
0.17-0.04850.01410.06-0.04-0.85
0.14-0.04900.01180.05-0.04-0.88
0.12-0.04950.01000.05-0.03-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40608010012012K0
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

spot3050709011013021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 3K 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: PTCT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk