Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:57 PM ET

RVTY max pain

Spot (delayed)$158.77
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120-24.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.85±15.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.45814 puts / 563 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3054.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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$150-5.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$120-24.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$155-2.4%82d
Fri, Mar 19$135-15.0%145d
Fri, May 21$95-40.2%208d
Thu, Jun 17$125-21.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1205080110140170200$5M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1205080110140170200292292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RVTY 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

spot120508011014017020033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5080110140170200175%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1505080110140170200+$49K−$49K
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
0.88-0.061250.00550.12-0.06-0.12
0.85-0.071300.00670.14-0.07-0.15
0.81-0.081350.00800.17-0.08-0.19
0.77-0.091400.00940.19-0.09-0.23
0.71-0.091450.01080.21-0.10-0.28
0.66-0.101500.01200.23-0.10-0.34
0.59-0.101550.01290.24-0.10-0.41
0.53-0.101600.01350.25-0.10-0.47
0.46-0.101650.01360.25-0.10-0.54
0.39-0.101700.01330.24-0.10-0.61
0.33-0.091750.01260.23-0.10-0.67
0.28-0.091800.01160.21-0.09-0.72
0.23-0.081850.01050.19-0.08-0.77
0.19-0.071900.00940.17-0.07-0.81
0.16-0.061950.00820.15-0.07-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751001251501752002K0
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

spot50801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: RVTY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk