Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:29 PM ET

SITM max pain

Spot (delayed)$460.55
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$700+52.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$125.2±27.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.382K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$650largest call OI
Put wall$720largest put OI
IV30102.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$358Kper 1% move

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$560+21.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$700+52.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$540+17.3%116d
Fri, May 21$490+6.4%207d
Fri, Dec 17$540+17.3%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7002504366228089941180$65M$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 — 700 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7002504205306507501050468468
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SITM 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

spot70025042053065075010505050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2504366228089941180117%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2504205306507501050+$147K−$147K
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
0.75-0.463900.00200.58-0.46-0.25
0.73-0.484000.00210.60-0.48-0.28
0.70-0.504100.00220.63-0.50-0.30
0.68-0.524200.00220.65-0.52-0.33
0.65-0.534300.00230.67-0.53-0.35
0.63-0.544400.00240.68-0.55-0.37
0.60-0.554500.00240.70-0.56-0.40
0.58-0.564600.00240.71-0.56-0.42
0.53-0.574800.00250.72-0.57-0.47
0.51-0.574900.00250.72-0.58-0.50
0.48-0.575000.00250.72-0.58-0.52
0.46-0.575100.00250.72-0.57-0.54
0.44-0.565200.00250.71-0.57-0.57
0.42-0.565300.00240.70-0.56-0.59
0.40-0.555400.00240.70-0.56-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20042055068084010504090
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

spot240380500620740940659659
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K 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: SITM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk