Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:26 PM ET

TROW max pain

Spot (delayed)$103.49
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$105+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.3±9.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.592K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3029.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$316Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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$100-3.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$105+1.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$105+1.5%81d
Fri, Mar 19$105+1.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$105+1.5%172d
Fri, Sep 17$100-3.4%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105457095120145170$15M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot105457095120145170707707
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TROW 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

spot10545709512014517099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot457095120145170101%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 110457095120145170+$178K−$178K
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—700.00140.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.00750.00260.02-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.01800.00460.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01850.00820.04-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.02900.01430.07-0.03-0.13
0.81-0.03950.02350.11-0.03-0.23
0.67-0.041000.03400.14-0.04-0.37
0.49-0.041050.03940.15-0.04-0.56
0.30-0.031100.03480.14-0.03-0.73
0.17-0.031150.02480.10-0.02-0.85
0.09-0.021200.01560.07-0.01-0.92
0.05-0.011250.00940.04-0.01-0.95
0.03-0.011300.00560.03-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.011350.00340.02—-0.98
0.01-0.001400.00210.01—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60851051251451652K0
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

spot4065901151401654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 13K 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: TROW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk