Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:56 PM ET

RLAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.33
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$19+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.98±21.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.817K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3071.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

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$17-7.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$19+3.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$17-7.3%144d
Thu, Jun 17$9-50.9%234d
Fri, Jan 21$20+9.1%452d
Fri, Jan 19$22+20.0%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot193814192530$11M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot193101520253K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RLAY 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

spot1931015202544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3814192530259%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 16310152025+$48K−$48K
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
0.92-0.01110.01940.01-0.01-0.09
0.90-0.01120.02490.01-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01130.03200.01-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01140.04080.02-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01150.05120.02-0.01-0.21
0.73-0.02160.06180.02-0.02-0.27
0.66-0.02170.07020.03-0.02-0.34
0.58-0.02180.07420.03-0.02-0.42
0.51-0.02190.07380.03-0.02-0.49
0.45-0.02200.07060.03-0.02-0.56
0.40-0.02210.06600.03-0.02-0.61
0.35-0.02220.06120.03-0.02-0.65
0.32-0.02230.05640.03-0.02-0.69
0.29-0.02240.05200.02-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.02250.04790.02-0.02-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3101520253K0
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

spot310152025355K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 11K 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: RLAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk