Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 2:33 AM ET

SPYI max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.28
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$53-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.58±3.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.354K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$54largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3011.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$471Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $54

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, Nov 20$53-0.5%21d
Fri, Dec 18$53-0.5%49d
Fri, Mar 19$54+1.4%140d
Thu, Jun 17$58+8.9%230d
Fri, Jan 21$54+1.4%448d
Fri, Jan 19$54+1.4%812d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53404550545964$4M$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 — 53 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5340455055602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPYI 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

spot5340455055601515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot41465055596434%6%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 8.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 544045505560+$776K−$776K
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
0.99-0.00460.01620.00-0.01-0.05
0.99—470.03010.01-0.01-0.07
0.97-0.00480.03370.01-0.01-0.09
0.95-0.00490.04540.02-0.01-0.12
0.92-0.00500.07150.03-0.01-0.17
0.86-0.01510.11500.04-0.01-0.25
0.76-0.01520.18730.06-0.01-0.37
0.56-0.01530.27360.07-0.01-0.57
0.28-0.01540.24540.06-0.00-0.78
0.11-0.00550.12400.04-0.00-0.90
0.05-0.00560.05650.02—-0.95
0.03-0.00570.02890.01—-0.97
0.01-0.00580.01640.01—-0.98
0.01-0.00590.01010.01—-0.98
0.010.00600.00660.00—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4350535659643K0
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

spot3043485358633K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 12K 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: SPYI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk