Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 11:28 PM ET

SANM max pain

Spot (delayed)$209.47
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$170-18.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$57.05±27.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.36235 puts / 658 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3063.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$81Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$190-9.3%24d
Fri, Nov 20$150-28.4%59d
Fri, Dec 18$170-18.8%87d
Fri, Jan 15$150-28.4%115d
Fri, Apr 16$150-28.4%206d
Fri, Jan 19$160-23.6%850d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17085150215280345410$12M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot17085125165210290370254254
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SANM 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

spot1708512516521029037044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85150215280345410106%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 9085130170230310390+$53K$53K
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
0.79-0.111700.00390.30-0.12-0.21
0.76-0.121750.00420.32-0.13-0.24
0.74-0.131800.00440.34-0.14-0.26
0.71-0.141850.00460.35-0.14-0.29
0.68-0.141900.00480.36-0.15-0.32
0.66-0.151950.00500.38-0.15-0.34
0.63-0.152000.00510.39-0.15-0.37
0.58-0.162100.00530.40-0.16-0.42
0.52-0.162200.00540.41-0.16-0.48
0.47-0.162300.00540.41-0.16-0.53
0.42-0.162400.00540.40-0.16-0.58
0.38-0.152500.00520.39-0.15-0.63
0.34-0.152600.00500.38-0.14-0.67
0.30-0.142700.00480.36-0.14-0.71
0.26-0.132800.00450.34-0.13-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651101552002903801K0
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

spot651101552002903801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 3K 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: SANM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk