Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:42 AM ET

TTMI max pain

Spot (delayed)$74.49
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$110+47.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.3±27.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.613K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3092.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$65Kper 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$100+34.3%28d
Fri, Dec 18$110+47.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$105+41.0%84d
Fri, Mar 19$120+61.1%147d
Thu, Jun 17$90+20.8%237d
Fri, Jan 21$95+27.5%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11050104158212266320$81M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11050901301702203001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TTMI 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

spot1105090130170220300516516
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot50104158212266320188%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5090130170220300+$41K−$41K
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
0.89-0.03500.00670.05-0.04-0.11
0.84-0.05550.00900.07-0.06-0.16
0.78-0.06600.01120.09-0.07-0.22
0.71-0.07650.01310.10-0.08-0.29
0.63-0.08700.01440.11-0.08-0.37
0.56-0.09750.01520.12-0.09-0.44
0.48-0.09800.01530.12-0.09-0.52
0.41-0.09850.01500.11-0.08-0.58
0.35-0.08900.01430.11-0.08-0.65
0.30-0.08950.01330.10-0.07-0.70
0.25-0.071000.01220.09-0.06-0.75
0.21-0.071050.01100.09-0.05-0.79
0.18-0.061100.00980.08-0.05-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50901301702203006K0
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

spot50901301702203006K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 45K call contracts, 26K 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: TTMI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk