Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 3:03 AM ET

SLV max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.26
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$57+9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.54±10.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.43144K puts / 333K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3033.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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, Oct 23$53+1.4%1d
Mon, Oct 26$50.5-3.4%4d
Wed, Oct 28$52-0.5%6d
Fri, Oct 30$53.5+2.4%8d
Mon, Nov 2$51-2.4%11d
Wed, Nov 4$54+3.3%13d
Fri, Nov 20$55+5.2%29d
Fri, Dec 18$57+9.1%57d
Thu, Dec 31$60+14.8%70d
Fri, Jan 15$55+5.2%85d
Fri, Mar 19$57+9.1%148d
Wed, Mar 31$57+9.1%160d
Fri, Apr 16$54+3.3%176d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5725456585105125$1.7B$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 — 57 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot57254856647210545K45K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SLV 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

spot5725485664721053K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25456585105125105%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 202548566472105+$3.0M−$3.0M
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
0.90-0.01440.02270.04-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01450.02710.04-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.02470.03720.06-0.02-0.19
0.77-0.02480.04240.06-0.02-0.23
0.72-0.02490.04730.07-0.02-0.28
0.67-0.02500.05140.07-0.02-0.33
0.62-0.02510.05450.08-0.02-0.39
0.56-0.02520.05640.08-0.02-0.44
0.51-0.02530.05700.08-0.02-0.50
0.45-0.02540.05630.08-0.02-0.56
0.40-0.02550.05450.08-0.02-0.61
0.35-0.02560.05180.08-0.02-0.66
0.30-0.02570.04850.07-0.02-0.71
0.27-0.02580.04490.07-0.02-0.75
0.23-0.02590.04110.06-0.02-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot39.546.551.556.561.567.57K0
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

spot2048566679130230K230K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3.7M call contracts, 1.5M 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: SLV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk