Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:59 PM ET

ROP max pain

Spot (delayed)$437
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$410-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$39.25±9.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.4540 puts / 88 calls
Call wall$410largest call OI
Put wall$360largest put OI
IV3029.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $410

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$380-13.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$410-6.2%53d
Fri, Feb 19$380-13.0%116d
Fri, May 21$350-19.9%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot410320348376404432460$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 — 410 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4103203503904204505555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROP 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

spot4103203503904204501414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot32034837640443246055%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 410320350390420450+$53K−$53K
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
0.91-0.093600.00230.27-0.09-0.08
0.86-0.123800.00350.37-0.12-0.13
0.83-0.133900.00430.43-0.13-0.17
0.78-0.154000.00510.50-0.15-0.21
0.73-0.164100.00600.57-0.16-0.27
0.67-0.174200.00680.62-0.17-0.33
0.59-0.184300.00740.66-0.18-0.41
0.52-0.184400.00770.68-0.18-0.48
0.44-0.184500.00760.68-0.18-0.56
0.37-0.174600.00730.65-0.18-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2002803604305005803690
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

spot185250330410490580371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: ROP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk