Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:12 PM ET

U max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.13
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$40-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.5±18.2% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI0.417 puts / 17 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3071.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$701per 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$41-0.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$44+7.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$44+7.0%17d
Fri, Nov 20$38-7.6%24d
Fri, Nov 27$40-2.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$40-2.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$41-0.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$30-27.1%80d
Fri, Feb 19$39-5.2%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40303438424650$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot40304247501010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)U open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot403042475022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot30343842465076%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spotflip 4030424750+$564−$564
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02300.01420.02-0.02-0.07
0.60-0.05400.04170.05-0.05-0.40
0.51-0.05420.04300.05-0.05-0.49
0.39-0.05450.04140.05-0.05-0.61
0.32-0.04470.03850.05-0.04-0.68
0.26-0.04490.03470.04-0.04-0.74
0.23-0.04500.03260.04-0.04-0.77

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

spot2533.53842465133K0
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

spot3213137.5445144K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 383K call contracts, 257K 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: U workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk