Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 4:17 AM ET

TXMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.9
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$2+5.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±41.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.024 puts / 231 calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3089.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$243per 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$1-47.4%34d
Fri, Dec 18$2+5.3%62d
Fri, Mar 19$2+5.3%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2223344$1M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2234226226
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TXMD 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

spot223411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.59-0.0020.41140.00-0.00-0.44
0.40-0.0030.29720.00-0.00-0.63
0.33-0.0040.23400.00-0.01-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12344390
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

spot12345439439
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 657 call contracts, 9 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: TXMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk