Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:01 AM ET

TEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.3
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$65-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.88±25.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3210K puts / 32K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3085.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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 23$69+2.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$70+4.0%9d
Fri, Nov 6$70+4.0%16d
Fri, Nov 13$70+4.0%23d
Fri, Nov 20$65-3.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$69+2.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$65-3.4%58d
Fri, Jan 15$55-18.3%86d
Fri, Feb 19$70+4.0%121d
Fri, Mar 19$70+4.0%149d
Fri, Apr 16$70+4.0%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6523436484105125$141M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6522.54060801001208K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEM 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

spot6522.5406080100120292292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot23436484105125135%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 7022.5406080100120+$596K−$596K
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
0.99-0.00300.00110.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01350.00230.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01400.00420.03-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.03450.00700.04-0.03-0.09
0.86-0.04500.01030.06-0.04-0.14
0.79-0.05550.01360.08-0.05-0.22
0.70-0.06600.01630.09-0.06-0.30
0.61-0.07650.01790.10-0.07-0.40
0.52-0.07700.01860.11-0.07-0.49
0.43-0.07750.01820.11-0.07-0.57
0.36-0.07800.01720.10-0.07-0.65
0.30-0.06850.01570.09-0.06-0.71
0.24-0.06900.01410.08-0.06-0.77
0.20-0.05950.01240.07-0.05-0.82
0.16-0.041000.01070.07-0.04-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40576777871005K0
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

spot17.55365778912030K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 232K call contracts, 127K 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: TEM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk