Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 31, 11:02 PM ET

SVIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$25.6
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$25-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.7±22.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.096K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$24largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3080.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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 6$29+13.3%5d
Fri, Nov 13$27+5.5%12d
Fri, Nov 20$25-2.3%19d
Fri, Nov 27$29.5+15.2%26d
Fri, Dec 4$30+17.2%33d
Fri, Dec 11$27.5+7.4%40d
Fri, Dec 18$25-2.3%47d
Fri, Jan 15$18-29.7%75d
Fri, Mar 19$27+5.5%138d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2541219273442$11M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25413192531371K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SVIX 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

spot2541319253137248248
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot81522283542183%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 841319253137+$46K−$46K
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
0.84-0.03190.02600.02-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.03200.03020.03-0.03-0.19
0.77-0.03210.03470.03-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.03220.03960.03-0.03-0.26
0.69-0.03230.04440.03-0.03-0.30
0.64-0.03240.04910.04-0.03-0.35
0.59-0.03250.05320.04-0.03-0.40
0.53-0.03260.05630.04-0.03-0.46
0.47-0.03270.05800.04-0.03-0.52
0.42-0.03280.05800.04-0.03-0.58
0.36-0.03290.05650.04-0.03-0.63
0.31-0.02300.05360.03-0.02-0.68
0.27-0.02310.04990.03-0.02-0.72
0.23-0.02320.04570.03-0.02-0.76
0.20-0.02330.04160.03-0.02-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot142125.52932.5382K0
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

spot11220.52631.5394K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 39K 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: SVIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk