Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:03 AM ET

SNY max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.25
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$22.5-45.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.9±21.6% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.322K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3030.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move

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, Nov 20$40-3.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$42.5+3.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5+3.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$42.5+3.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$47.5+15.2%234d
Fri, Dec 17$22.5-45.5%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5233344546575$28M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot22.522.532.542.552.5654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SNY open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot22.522.532.542.552.5655050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot23334454657536%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot22.532.542.552.565+$26K−$26K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00—22.50.00160.01-0.00-0.04
0.99—250.00360.01-0.00-0.05
0.98—27.50.00700.03-0.00-0.08
0.950.00300.01230.05-0.00-0.12
0.90-0.0032.50.01930.07-0.00-0.17
0.83-0.00350.02700.10-0.00-0.24
0.75-0.0037.50.03380.14-0.01-0.33
0.66-0.00400.03820.15-0.01-0.42
0.56-0.0142.50.04000.17-0.01-0.52
0.46-0.01450.03960.17-0.01-0.62
0.38-0.0047.50.03750.16-0.00-0.71
0.31-0.00500.03430.15-0.00-0.79
0.25-0.0052.50.03050.14-0.00-0.84
0.20-0.00550.02660.12-0.00-0.89
0.16-0.0057.50.02270.10—-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2535455565806K0
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

spot2030405060708K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 54K call contracts, 41K 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: SNY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk