Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 11:28 PM ET

Q max pain

Spot (delayed)$122.9
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$145+18.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.5±18.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.751K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3057.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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$130+5.8%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130+5.8%37d
Fri, Dec 18$145+18.0%65d
Fri, Feb 19$140+13.9%128d
Fri, May 21$115-6.4%219d
Fri, Jan 21$120-2.4%464d
Fri, Jan 19$100-18.6%828d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14565102139176213250$16M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1456595125155185230354354
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Q 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

spot145659512515518523022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6510213917621325088%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 2106595125155185230+$26K−$26K
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
0.91-0.03900.00510.08-0.04-0.09
0.88-0.04950.00660.11-0.05-0.12
0.83-0.051000.00820.13-0.06-0.16
0.78-0.061050.00990.15-0.07-0.21
0.72-0.071100.01140.17-0.07-0.27
0.66-0.081150.01260.19-0.08-0.34
0.59-0.081200.01350.20-0.08-0.41
0.52-0.081250.01400.21-0.08-0.48
0.45-0.081300.01400.21-0.08-0.55
0.39-0.081350.01360.20-0.08-0.61
0.33-0.071400.01280.19-0.07-0.67
0.27-0.071450.01180.17-0.07-0.73
0.23-0.061500.01070.16-0.06-0.77
0.19-0.061550.00950.14-0.06-0.81
0.15-0.051600.00840.12-0.05-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65951251551852307K0
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

spot609012015018022011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 31K 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: Q workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk