Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 4:05 PM ET

TDY max pain

Spot (delayed)$619.46
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$630+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$59.45±9.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3534 puts / 98 calls
Call wall$690largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3029.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$89Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $400

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$600-3.1%today
Fri, Nov 20$570-8.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$630+1.7%63d
Fri, Jan 15$650+4.9%91d
Fri, Mar 19$590-4.8%154d
Fri, May 21$580-6.4%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot630370488606724842960$3M$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 — 630 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6303705106006707308603333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TDY 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

spot63037051060067073086011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot37048860672484296063%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 400370510600670730860+$51K−$51K
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
0.90-0.145100.00170.45-0.14-0.10
0.89-0.155200.00190.50-0.15-0.11
0.85-0.175400.00250.60-0.17-0.15
0.80-0.195600.00320.73-0.19-0.20
0.77-0.205700.00360.79-0.20-0.23
0.73-0.215800.00400.85-0.21-0.27
0.65-0.226000.00490.96-0.23-0.36
0.54-0.236200.00541.02-0.23-0.46
0.49-0.236300.00561.03-0.23-0.52
0.43-0.226400.00561.01-0.23-0.58
0.38-0.216500.00540.98-0.22-0.63
0.33-0.206600.00510.94-0.21-0.69
0.28-0.196700.00480.88-0.20-0.73
0.24-0.186800.00440.82-0.19-0.78
0.21-0.166900.00400.75-0.18-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot300400520640740880780
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

spot300410520630740880308308
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 635 call contracts, 502 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: TDY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk