Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:16 AM ET

TRI max pain

Spot (delayed)$123.17
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$120-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.2±14.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI4.143K puts / 786 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3049.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$412Kper 1% move

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$105-14.8%27d
Fri, Dec 18$120-2.6%55d
Fri, Jan 15$80-35.0%83d
Fri, Feb 19$110-10.7%118d
Fri, Apr 16$105-14.8%174d
Fri, Sep 17$115-6.6%328d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120406488112136160$21M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1204065901151402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TRI 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

spot12040659011514066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot406488112136160147%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot406590115140+$397K−$397K
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
0.93-0.04900.00500.06-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.05950.00690.08-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.061000.00900.10-0.05-0.15
0.81-0.071050.01140.13-0.06-0.20
0.74-0.071100.01380.15-0.07-0.26
0.67-0.081150.01580.17-0.08-0.33
0.58-0.081200.01730.19-0.08-0.42
0.49-0.081250.01790.19-0.08-0.50
0.41-0.081300.01760.19-0.08-0.59
0.33-0.071350.01650.17-0.07-0.67
0.25-0.061400.01470.15-0.06-0.74
0.20-0.051450.01270.13-0.05-0.80
0.15-0.041500.01050.11-0.04-0.85
0.11-0.041550.00860.09-0.04-0.89
0.08-0.031600.00680.07-0.03-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5075951151351551K0
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

spot4065901151401652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 5K 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: TRI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk