Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 7:43 PM ET

SNOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$338.46
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$220-35.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$73.32±21.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.3345K puts / 34K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3046.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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$335-1.0%3d
Fri, Oct 2$330-2.5%10d
Fri, Oct 9$340+0.5%17d
Fri, Oct 16$310-8.4%24d
Fri, Oct 23$350+3.4%31d
Fri, Oct 30$335-1.0%38d
Fri, Nov 20$280-17.3%59d
Fri, Dec 18$220-35.0%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22055154253352451550$913M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot220551051552103104107K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNOW 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

spot22055105155210310410303303
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot55154253352451550166%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 240115155195270350430+$1.0M$1.0M
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
0.84-0.132700.00260.41-0.14-0.17
0.80-0.142800.00290.46-0.15-0.20
0.77-0.162900.00320.51-0.17-0.23
0.73-0.173000.00350.55-0.18-0.27
0.69-0.183100.00380.58-0.19-0.31
0.65-0.193200.00400.61-0.20-0.35
0.61-0.203300.00410.64-0.21-0.40
0.56-0.213400.00420.65-0.21-0.44
0.52-0.213500.00430.66-0.21-0.48
0.48-0.213600.00430.66-0.21-0.53
0.44-0.213700.00430.65-0.21-0.57
0.40-0.203800.00420.64-0.21-0.61
0.37-0.203900.00410.62-0.20-0.64
0.33-0.194000.00390.60-0.19-0.68
0.30-0.184100.00380.58-0.18-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 57 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot170245302.5337.5367.54155K0
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

spot6011517025034042017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 286K call contracts, 254K 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: SNOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk