Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 8:07 PM ET

STE max pain

Spot (delayed)$223.89
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$210-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20±8.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.28152 puts / 535 calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3027.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$159Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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, Oct 16$210-6.2%1d
Fri, Nov 20$220-1.7%36d
Fri, Dec 18$210-6.2%64d
Fri, Mar 19$200-10.7%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210130164198232266300$2M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot210130150170195230270330330
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STE 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

spot21013015017019523027011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13016419823226630065%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 240130150170195230270+$86K−$86K
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
0.96-0.001700.00230.08-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.011750.00290.10-0.03-0.05
0.94-0.021800.00360.12-0.03-0.06
0.90-0.031900.00560.17-0.04-0.10
0.87-0.041950.00700.20-0.05-0.13
0.84-0.042000.00860.23-0.05-0.16
0.74-0.062100.01250.30-0.06-0.26
0.60-0.072200.01600.36-0.07-0.40
0.44-0.072300.01690.37-0.07-0.57
0.29-0.062400.01450.32-0.06-0.73
0.18-0.052500.01080.25-0.04-0.83
0.12-0.042600.00760.19-0.03-0.90
0.08-0.032700.00520.14-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.022800.00360.10-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.022900.00260.08-0.03-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1302102402703004520
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

spot130155180210260310519519
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 714 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: STE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk