Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 9:44 AM ET

RCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.51
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$280-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$41.25±14.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI4.8421K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3048.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8.9Mper 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 16$255-9.4%2d
Fri, Oct 23$250-11.2%9d
Fri, Oct 30$250-11.2%16d
Fri, Nov 6$270-4.1%23d
Fri, Nov 13$275-2.3%30d
Fri, Nov 20$260-7.6%37d
Fri, Nov 27$280-0.5%44d
Fri, Dec 18$280-0.5%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280125204283362441520$279M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot28012516521029037045013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RCL 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

spot2801251652102903704501616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12520428336244152095%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot125165210290370450+$7.3M−$7.3M
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
0.94-0.042100.00200.14-0.05-0.06
0.92-0.062200.00280.19-0.07-0.09
0.88-0.082300.00360.24-0.08-0.12
0.83-0.102400.00460.30-0.10-0.17
0.78-0.122500.00560.36-0.12-0.22
0.71-0.132600.00650.41-0.14-0.29
0.64-0.142700.00720.45-0.15-0.36
0.57-0.152800.00760.47-0.15-0.44
0.49-0.152900.00780.48-0.16-0.52
0.42-0.153000.00760.47-0.15-0.59
0.35-0.143100.00720.44-0.14-0.66
0.28-0.133200.00660.41-0.13-0.73
0.23-0.113300.00600.36-0.12-0.79
0.18-0.103400.00520.32-0.10-0.84
0.14-0.083500.00440.27-0.08-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160227.5252.5277.5302.53409340
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

spot90160205252.529037014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 47K call contracts, 64K 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: RCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk