Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 11:53 PM ET

SNPS max pain

Spot (delayed)$476.55
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$410-14.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$71.25±15.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.849K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$380largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3045.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $380

Event risk before this expiration: 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 30$445-6.6%2d
Fri, Nov 6$445-6.6%9d
Fri, Nov 13$470-1.4%16d
Fri, Nov 20$440-7.7%23d
Fri, Nov 27$455-4.5%30d
Fri, Dec 4$450-5.6%37d
Fri, Dec 18$410-14.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$460-3.5%79d
Fri, Mar 19$470-1.4%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot410185340495650805960$431M$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 — 410 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4101852703704705707802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNPS 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

spot4101852703704705707805050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot185340495650805960143%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 380185270370470570780+$988K−$988K
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
0.81-0.234100.00290.49-0.24-0.19
0.78-0.254200.00320.54-0.27-0.23
0.74-0.284300.00350.58-0.29-0.26
0.70-0.294400.00380.62-0.30-0.30
0.66-0.314500.00410.66-0.32-0.34
0.62-0.324600.00430.69-0.33-0.39
0.57-0.334700.00440.70-0.34-0.43
0.53-0.334800.00450.71-0.34-0.48
0.48-0.334900.00450.71-0.34-0.52
0.44-0.335000.00450.71-0.33-0.57
0.40-0.325100.00440.69-0.33-0.61
0.36-0.315200.00420.67-0.32-0.65
0.32-0.305300.00410.64-0.30-0.69
0.29-0.285400.00390.61-0.28-0.73
0.25-0.275500.00360.57-0.27-0.76

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

spot3504054404705005507580
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

spot18531041049060078012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 55K call contracts, 36K 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: SNPS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk