Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:28 PM ET

SIMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$188
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$220+17.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.85±27.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.392K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$410largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV30100.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$237Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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$210+11.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$220+17.0%53d
Fri, Mar 19$250+33.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$240+27.7%234d
Fri, Dec 17$165-12.2%417d
Fri, Jan 21$140-25.5%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22070160250340430520$117M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot22070120170240340440602602
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIMO 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

spot220701201702403404404141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot70160250340430520151%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 27070120170240340440+$85K−$85K
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
0.77-0.181550.00460.23-0.18-0.23
0.74-0.191600.00490.24-0.19-0.26
0.71-0.201650.00520.25-0.20-0.29
0.68-0.211700.00550.26-0.21-0.32
0.65-0.211750.00570.27-0.22-0.35
0.62-0.221800.00590.28-0.22-0.38
0.59-0.231850.00600.28-0.23-0.41
0.56-0.231900.00610.29-0.23-0.44
0.53-0.231950.00620.29-0.23-0.47
0.50-0.232000.00620.29-0.23-0.50
0.45-0.232100.00620.29-0.23-0.56
0.39-0.222200.00600.28-0.22-0.61
0.34-0.212300.00570.27-0.21-0.67
0.30-0.202400.00540.26-0.20-0.71
0.26-0.182500.00500.24-0.19-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701201702403404402K0
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

spot701201702403404402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 6K 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: SIMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk