Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 1:20 PM ET

SNDK max pain

Spot (delayed)$1,819
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$1,090-40.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$529.3±29.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.0743K puts / 40K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3070.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $860
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 5usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 25$1,650-9.3%4d
Fri, Oct 2$1,600-12.0%11d
Fri, Oct 9$1,440-20.8%18d
Fri, Oct 16$1,600-12.0%25d
Fri, Oct 23$1,690-7.1%32d
Fri, Oct 30$1,600-12.0%39d
Fri, Nov 20$1,500-17.5%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Nov 5)
Fri, Dec 18$1,090-40.1%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1090757661457214828393530$7.5B$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 — 1090 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1090754008401080150022003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNDK 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

spot109075400840108015002200160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot757661457214828393530263%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 86084010201250160021003200+$1.9M$1.9M
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
0.81-1.0014000.00042.44-1.01-0.19
0.78-1.0714500.00042.63-1.08-0.22
0.76-1.1515000.00052.81-1.16-0.25
0.71-1.2515800.00053.06-1.26-0.29
0.70-1.2716000.00053.12-1.29-0.30
0.65-1.3616900.00063.33-1.38-0.36
0.64-1.3617000.00063.35-1.39-0.36
0.58-1.4318000.00063.50-1.45-0.42
0.53-1.4619000.00063.56-1.49-0.48
0.50-1.4619500.00063.57-1.50-0.51
0.47-1.4620000.00063.56-1.50-0.54
0.42-1.4421000.00063.50-1.48-0.59
0.38-1.4022000.00063.39-1.45-0.64
0.35-1.3822500.00063.32-1.43-0.66
0.29-1.2924000.00053.08-1.34-0.72

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

spot590135015251640176020605K0
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

spot4560090013401600225016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 381K call contracts, 478K 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: SNDK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk