Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:03 AM ET

SAIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.14
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$300-9.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$54±16.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.10305 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$360largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$350+5.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$300-9.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$350+5.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300160268376484592700$110M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3001602603304004706001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SAIA 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

spot30016026033040047060011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot160268376484592700101%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 200160270340410480620+$664K−$664K
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
0.88-0.132600.00250.25-0.13-0.12
0.85-0.152700.00310.30-0.15-0.14
0.82-0.172800.00360.34-0.17-0.18
0.78-0.182900.00420.39-0.18-0.22
0.73-0.203000.00480.43-0.20-0.27
0.68-0.213100.00530.47-0.22-0.32
0.62-0.223200.00570.49-0.23-0.38
0.56-0.233300.00600.51-0.23-0.44
0.50-0.233400.00610.52-0.23-0.50
0.44-0.233500.00600.51-0.23-0.56
0.39-0.223600.00580.50-0.23-0.62
0.34-0.213700.00550.47-0.22-0.67
0.29-0.203800.00520.45-0.21-0.71
0.25-0.193900.00470.42-0.20-0.75
0.22-0.184000.00430.38-0.18-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1602603304004706001K0
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

spot1602103003904805701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 873 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: SAIA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk