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

SIMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$188
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$165-12.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$118±62.8% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.33328 puts / 997 calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV30100.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$62Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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

spot165105170235300365430$18M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot165105140185240310380521521
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIMO open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot16510514018524031038011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot10517023530036543079%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 110105140185240310380+$48K−$48K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.041500.00200.60-0.05-0.23
0.76-0.051550.00200.62-0.05-0.25
0.75-0.051600.00210.64-0.06-0.26
0.74-0.051650.00220.65-0.06-0.27
0.73-0.051700.00220.67-0.06-0.29
0.70-0.051800.00230.69-0.06-0.31
0.69-0.061850.00230.70-0.06-0.32
0.68-0.061900.00240.72-0.06-0.34
0.67-0.061950.00240.73-0.06-0.35
0.66-0.062000.00240.73-0.06-0.36
0.63-0.062100.00250.75-0.06-0.38
0.61-0.062200.00250.76-0.06-0.41
0.59-0.062300.00260.77-0.06-0.43
0.57-0.062400.00260.78-0.06-0.45
0.55-0.072500.00260.79-0.06-0.47

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 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