Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:23 AM ET

TPB max pain

Spot (delayed)$65.28
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$70+7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.1±18.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.20986 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3074.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$200Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$70+7.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$70+7.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$50-23.4%80d
Fri, Apr 16$45-31.1%171d
Fri, Dec 17$50-23.4%416d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot704074108142176210$54M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot704065901151401851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TPB 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

spot7040659011514018511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4074108142176210159%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 60406590115140185+$91K−$91K
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
0.95-0.02400.00500.03-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.03450.00770.04-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.04500.01140.06-0.04-0.14
0.80-0.05550.01610.07-0.05-0.21
0.70-0.05600.02110.09-0.06-0.31
0.58-0.06650.02490.10-0.06-0.43
0.46-0.06700.02600.10-0.06-0.56
0.34-0.05750.02410.09-0.05-0.68
0.25-0.05800.02060.08-0.05-0.78
0.18-0.04850.01670.07-0.04-0.85
0.14-0.03900.01340.06-0.04-0.90
0.10-0.03950.01070.04-0.03-0.94
0.08-0.021000.00860.04-0.03-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4070951201451901K0
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

spot3060901201501802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 1K 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: TPB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk