Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:53 PM ET

RKLB max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.64
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60+11.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.35±23.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.9093K puts / 104K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3078.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$732Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 30$56+4.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$60+11.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$60+11.9%18d
Fri, Nov 20$59+10.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$60+11.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$60+11.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$60+11.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50-6.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$70+30.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$65+21.2%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6014284126168210$1.2B$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot600.55.5306011016012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RKLB 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

spot600.55.530601101609191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot34486127169210283%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 2010305090130170+$377K−$377K
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
0.93-0.02350.00750.03-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.02370.00940.03-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.03400.01280.04-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.04420.01530.05-0.04-0.16
0.78-0.04450.01900.06-0.04-0.22
0.73-0.05470.02130.07-0.05-0.27
0.66-0.05500.02410.07-0.05-0.34
0.53-0.06550.02650.08-0.06-0.47
0.40-0.05600.02590.08-0.05-0.60
0.30-0.05650.02310.07-0.05-0.70
0.22-0.04700.01930.06-0.04-0.79
0.16-0.04750.01560.05-0.03-0.85
0.12-0.03800.01240.04-0.03-0.89
0.09-0.02850.00980.03-0.02-0.92
0.07-0.02900.00780.03-0.02-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3849576675857K0
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

spot235546611517070K70K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 700K call contracts, 534K 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: RKLB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk