Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:12 AM ET

RPD max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.14
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$13-28.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.3±29.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.17308 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV30107.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$9-50.4%24d
Fri, Dec 18$13-28.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$7-61.4%80d
Fri, Feb 19$9-50.4%115d
Fri, May 21$12-33.8%206d
Fri, Dec 17$3-83.5%416d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1321120293847$4M$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot132712172537336336
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RPD 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

spot132712172537307307
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot41321303847381%86%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 98.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 32813182840+$3K−$3K
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
0.89-0.01110.02280.01-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.02120.02830.01-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02130.03460.02-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.02140.04120.02-0.02-0.21
0.73-0.02150.04770.02-0.02-0.26
0.68-0.02160.05350.02-0.02-0.32
0.62-0.02170.05780.03-0.02-0.37
0.56-0.02180.06040.03-0.02-0.43
0.50-0.02190.06110.03-0.02-0.49
0.44-0.02200.06030.03-0.02-0.55
0.30-0.02230.05220.02-0.02-0.68
0.24-0.02250.04510.02-0.02-0.75
0.17-0.02280.03520.02-0.01-0.82
0.13-0.01300.02960.01-0.01-0.85
0.11-0.01320.02490.01-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17131927404K0
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

spot171319274010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 19K 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: RPD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk