Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 11:47 AM ET

TTE max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.89
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$80-12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.9±20.6% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI1.311K puts / 910 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
Net GEX−$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$87.5-4.8%5d
Fri, Oct 16$87.5-4.8%33d
Fri, Nov 20$87.5-4.8%68d
Fri, Dec 18$80-12.9%96d
Fri, Jan 15$67.5-26.5%124d
Fri, Feb 19$87.5-4.8%159d
Thu, Jun 17$77.5-15.7%277d
Fri, Dec 17$80-12.9%460d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8048648197114130$4M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot8047.562.57587.5100125371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TTE open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot8047.562.57587.510012511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot5066829811413039%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 6047.562.57587.5100125+$37K$37K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01750.01060.27-0.01-0.20
0.78-0.0177.50.01180.29-0.01-0.23
0.75-0.01800.01280.32-0.01-0.26
0.71-0.0182.50.01380.34-0.01-0.30
0.68-0.01850.01470.35-0.01-0.34
0.64-0.0187.50.01550.37-0.01-0.38
0.60-0.01900.01610.38-0.01-0.42
0.56-0.0192.50.01650.39-0.01-0.46
0.52-0.01950.01680.39-0.01-0.50
0.48-0.0197.50.01690.39-0.01-0.54
0.44-0.011000.01680.39-0.01-0.58
0.37-0.011050.01620.37-0.01-0.66
0.31-0.011100.01510.35-0.01-0.73
0.25-0.011150.01370.32-0.01-0.80
0.20-0.011200.01210.28-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5077.587.597.51151353K0
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

spot27.54562.58097.51305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 27K 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: TTE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk