Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 10:02 AM ET

RBRK max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.32
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$110-8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.4±21.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.55161 puts / 294 calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$114-5.3%today
Fri, Oct 30$110-8.6%7d
Fri, Nov 6$112-6.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$117-2.8%21d
Fri, Nov 20$110-8.6%28d
Fri, Nov 27$109-9.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$110-8.6%56d
Fri, Jan 15$80-33.5%84d
Fri, Apr 16$110-8.6%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1107091112133154175$1M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11070951151351551758787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RBRK 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

spot11070951151351551751919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot709111213315417581%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1357095115135155175+$7K−$7K
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
0.94-0.02800.00320.06-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.03850.00440.07-0.04-0.08
0.84-0.06950.00700.11-0.07-0.15
0.80-0.071000.00830.13-0.08-0.20
0.75-0.081050.00960.15-0.09-0.25
0.69-0.091100.01060.17-0.10-0.31
0.63-0.101150.01140.18-0.10-0.37
0.57-0.111200.01190.19-0.11-0.43
0.51-0.111250.01210.19-0.11-0.49
0.45-0.111300.01210.19-0.11-0.55
0.40-0.111350.01180.18-0.10-0.60
0.35-0.101400.01130.18-0.10-0.66
0.30-0.101450.01070.17-0.09-0.70
0.26-0.091500.00990.15-0.08-0.75
0.22-0.081550.00910.14-0.07-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55951051151251359880
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

spot306082.510211815010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 70K call contracts, 28K 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: RBRK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk