Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 12:41 AM ET

SIVR max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.96
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$63+14.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.75±10.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.35629 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3032.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$61per 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$55+0.1%29d
Fri, Dec 18$63+14.6%57d
Fri, Jan 15$60+9.2%85d
Fri, Mar 19$50-9.0%148d
Thu, Jun 17$46-16.3%238d
Fri, Sep 17$55+0.1%330d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6330486684102120$7M$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 — 63 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot633050607080100255255
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SIVR 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

spot6330506070801002020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot35526986103120104%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 353050607080100+$15K−$15K
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
0.83-0.02480.02980.05-0.02-0.16
0.80-0.02490.03400.06-0.02-0.19
0.77-0.02500.03850.07-0.02-0.23
0.73-0.02510.04290.07-0.02-0.27
0.68-0.02520.04690.08-0.02-0.31
0.63-0.02530.05030.08-0.02-0.36
0.58-0.02540.05270.09-0.02-0.42
0.53-0.03550.05400.09-0.03-0.47
0.47-0.03560.05390.09-0.03-0.52
0.42-0.02570.05270.09-0.02-0.57
0.37-0.02580.05060.08-0.02-0.62
0.33-0.02590.04780.08-0.02-0.67
0.29-0.02600.04460.07-0.02-0.71
0.26-0.02610.04110.07-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.02620.03770.07-0.02-0.77

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

spot3054637281982K0
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

spot30526475861052K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 4K 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: SIVR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk