Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 3:06 AM ET

SAN max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.96
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$13-13.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.58±10.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.486K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$13largest put OI
Net GEX+$193Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$13-13.1%5d
Fri, Oct 16$14-6.4%33d
Fri, Dec 18$13-13.1%96d
Fri, Mar 19$14-6.4%187d
Fri, Jan 21$10-33.2%495d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot135811151821$7M$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

spot1358111417215K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SAN 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

spot13581114172155
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9111416192191%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 65811141721+$100K$100K
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
0.97-0.0080.01240.01-0.00-0.04
0.96-0.0090.01830.01-0.00-0.05
0.95-0.00100.02760.01-0.00-0.06
0.93-0.00110.04270.01-0.00-0.09
0.89-0.00120.06730.01-0.00-0.13
0.81-0.00130.10520.02-0.00-0.20
0.69-0.00140.15240.03-0.00-0.32
0.53-0.01150.18180.03-0.01-0.49
0.36-0.00160.16900.03-0.00-0.66
0.23-0.00170.13210.02-0.00-0.79
0.15-0.00180.09530.02-0.00-0.87
0.10-0.00190.06700.01-0.00-0.92
0.04-0.00210.03280.01-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47101316198K0
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

spot3711151915K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 21K 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: SAN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk