Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 1:55 PM ET

SMCI max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.44
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±25.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.77119K puts / 154K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3080.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$870Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $56
Earnings · expectedTue, Nov 3usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$41+1.4%4d
Fri, Oct 23$42+3.9%11d
Fri, Oct 30$41+1.4%18d
Fri, Nov 6$40-1.1%25d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Nov 3)
Fri, Nov 13$44+8.8%32d
Fri, Nov 20$37-8.5%39d
Fri, Nov 27$44+8.8%46d
Fri, Dec 18$40-1.1%67d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40326507397120$888M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot403233343557411K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMCI 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

spot40323334355745959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot326507397120256%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 5642434445675+$246K−$246K
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
0.79-0.03330.02180.05-0.03-0.21
0.77-0.03340.02350.05-0.03-0.23
0.74-0.03350.02500.06-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.03360.02640.06-0.03-0.29
0.68-0.03370.02760.06-0.03-0.32
0.65-0.04380.02870.06-0.04-0.35
0.62-0.04390.02950.07-0.04-0.38
0.59-0.04400.03010.07-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.04410.03050.07-0.04-0.45
0.53-0.04420.03070.07-0.04-0.47
0.50-0.04430.03070.07-0.04-0.51
0.47-0.04440.03060.07-0.04-0.53
0.45-0.04450.03030.07-0.04-0.56
0.42-0.04460.02990.07-0.04-0.59
0.39-0.04470.02930.07-0.04-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5303640.5455028K0
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

spot12233435285144K144K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.1M call contracts, 1.1M 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: SMCI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk