Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 2:28 AM ET

SDGR max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.14
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$30+10.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.33±27.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.937K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV30101.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$20-26.3%19d
Fri, Dec 18$30+10.5%47d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-35.5%138d
Fri, May 21$17.5-35.5%201d
Thu, Jun 17$27.5+1.3%228d
Fri, Aug 20$20-26.3%292d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3031120283745$17M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot302.51017.52532.5405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SDGR 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

spot302.51017.52532.5407272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot31120283745307%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 5512.52027.53542.5+$138K−$138K
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
0.99-0.01100.00260.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.0112.50.00480.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01150.00860.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0117.50.01480.01-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.02200.02360.02-0.02-0.14
0.78-0.0322.50.03320.03-0.03-0.22
0.68-0.03250.04070.04-0.03-0.33
0.56-0.0427.50.04420.04-0.04-0.44
0.46-0.04300.04380.04-0.04-0.54
0.38-0.0432.50.04090.04-0.04-0.63
0.30-0.03350.03680.04-0.03-0.71
0.24-0.0337.50.03240.03-0.03-0.77
0.20-0.03400.02810.03-0.03-0.81
0.16-0.0342.50.02420.02-0.03-0.85
0.13-0.02450.02080.02-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.52532.54014K0
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

spot2.51017.52532.54014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 39K call contracts, 13K 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: SDGR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk