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

TCBI max pain

Spot (delayed)$101.99
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85-16.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.63±9.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2743 puts / 159 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3028.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$90-11.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$85-16.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$105+3.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$65-36.3%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85557595115135155$1M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot855575951151351554949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TCBI 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

spot8555759511513515511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot557595115135155110%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 855580100120140+$14K−$14K
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
0.96-0.02650.00310.03-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.02700.00420.04-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.03750.00590.05-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.03800.00830.07-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.03850.01200.08-0.03-0.13
0.82-0.04900.01760.10-0.04-0.18
0.73-0.04950.02590.13-0.04-0.27
0.59-0.041000.03480.15-0.04-0.41
0.41-0.041050.03530.15-0.04-0.59
0.28-0.041100.02780.13-0.04-0.72
0.20-0.031150.02060.11-0.03-0.80
0.15-0.031200.01560.09-0.03-0.85
0.12-0.031250.01210.08-0.03-0.88
0.10-0.031300.00970.07-0.03-0.91
0.08-0.031350.00790.06-0.03-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7085100115130145580
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

spot4565851051251455858
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 235 call contracts, 80 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: TCBI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk