Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:58 PM ET

STX max pain

Spot (delayed)$652.93
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$720+10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$133.8±20.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.1817K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$900largest call OI
Put wall$430largest put OI
IV3069.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4.4Mper 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, Oct 30$700+7.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$725+11.0%11d
Fri, Nov 13$745+14.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$770+17.9%25d
Fri, Nov 27$750+14.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$685+4.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$720+10.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$550-15.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$820+25.6%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot720170478786109414021710$999M$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 — 720 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot72017040059070082010302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STX 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

spot7201704005907008201030215215
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot170478786109414021710183%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3005006307308601060+$1.2M−$1.2M
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
0.74-0.505800.00200.82-0.52-0.27
0.72-0.525900.00200.85-0.54-0.29
0.69-0.546000.00210.88-0.56-0.31
0.67-0.566100.00220.91-0.57-0.34
0.65-0.576200.00220.93-0.58-0.36
0.62-0.586300.00230.95-0.59-0.38
0.60-0.596400.00240.97-0.60-0.41
0.58-0.606500.00240.98-0.61-0.43
0.55-0.606600.00240.99-0.61-0.46
0.53-0.616700.00240.99-0.62-0.48
0.51-0.616800.00241.00-0.62-0.51
0.46-0.607000.00240.99-0.61-0.55
0.44-0.607100.00240.98-0.61-0.58
0.41-0.597200.00240.97-0.60-0.60
0.39-0.587300.00240.96-0.59-0.62

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

spot4606306757458159405K0
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

spot801853305707109007K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 126K call contracts, 176K 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: STX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk