Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:17 PM ET

ROST max pain

Spot (delayed)$230.09
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$220-4.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.1±10.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI2.034K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.0Mper 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 30$230-0.0%3d
Fri, Nov 6$232.5+1.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$235+2.1%17d
Fri, Nov 20$250+8.7%24d
Fri, Nov 27$230-0.0%31d
Fri, Dec 4$220-4.4%38d
Fri, Dec 18$220-4.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$210-8.7%80d
Fri, Feb 19$230-0.0%115d
Fri, Mar 19$220-4.4%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22080138196254312370$47M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot220801301652002703402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROST 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

spot220801301652002703405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot95150205260315370133%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot100140170200260320+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.97-0.011800.00220.06-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.021850.00300.08-0.03-0.05
0.94-0.031900.00400.11-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.041950.00520.14-0.05-0.09
0.88-0.052000.00660.17-0.06-0.12
0.79-0.082100.00970.25-0.08-0.21
0.68-0.102200.01210.31-0.10-0.33
0.55-0.112300.01310.34-0.11-0.46
0.42-0.112400.01290.34-0.11-0.59
0.30-0.102500.01150.30-0.10-0.71
0.21-0.082600.00940.25-0.08-0.81
0.14-0.062700.00720.19-0.07-0.88
0.09-0.052800.00520.14-0.05-0.94
0.06-0.042900.00380.11-0.04-0.97
0.04-0.033000.00270.08-0.04-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot135180215232.52452608510
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

spot65130195230262.53157K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K call contracts, 30K 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: ROST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk