Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:27 PM ET

SHW max pain

Spot (delayed)$337.06
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$330-2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.45±9.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.582K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$380largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3031.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $370

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$330-2.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$330-2.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$340+0.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$320-5.1%144d
Thu, Jun 17$320-5.1%234d
Fri, Sep 17$310-8.0%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330155240325410495580$67M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot330155195270350430520940940
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHW 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

spot3301551952703504305204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot155240325410495580102%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 370160200270340410480+$709K−$709K
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
0.94-0.052700.00230.16-0.05-0.06
0.92-0.072800.00310.20-0.07-0.08
0.89-0.082900.00420.26-0.08-0.12
0.84-0.103000.00550.32-0.10-0.16
0.78-0.113100.00700.39-0.11-0.22
0.71-0.123200.00860.46-0.13-0.30
0.61-0.133300.00990.51-0.14-0.39
0.51-0.143400.01050.53-0.14-0.50
0.41-0.133500.01040.51-0.13-0.61
0.32-0.123600.00950.47-0.12-0.70
0.24-0.103700.00810.41-0.11-0.78
0.18-0.093800.00670.35-0.09-0.84
0.13-0.073900.00530.28-0.08-0.89
0.10-0.064000.00420.23-0.07-0.92
0.07-0.054100.00330.19-0.06-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1552002803504204901K0
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

spot1501902603404205002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 8K 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: SHW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk