Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:25 AM ET

UAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$100.79
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$100-0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.63±11.5% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI1.07131 puts / 122 calls
Call wall$116largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3047.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $116

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$102+1.2%3d
Fri, Nov 6$101+0.2%10d
Fri, Nov 13$100-0.8%17d
Fri, Nov 20$105+4.2%24d
Fri, Nov 27$99-1.8%31d
Fri, Dec 4$100-0.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$95-5.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$100-0.8%80d
Fri, Mar 19$110+9.1%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100859197104110116$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot100859197101110103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UAL 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

spot100859197101110100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot85919710411011652%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spotflip 116859197101110+$20K−$20K
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
0.79-0.06900.01770.10-0.06-0.21
0.77-0.06910.01870.10-0.06-0.23
0.70-0.07940.02150.11-0.07-0.30
0.68-0.07950.02230.12-0.07-0.32
0.64-0.08970.02370.12-0.08-0.37
0.61-0.08980.02430.13-0.08-0.39
0.56-0.081000.02520.13-0.08-0.44
0.54-0.081010.02550.13-0.08-0.47
0.51-0.081020.02570.13-0.08-0.49
0.41-0.081060.02540.13-0.08-0.60
0.32-0.071100.02350.12-0.07-0.69
0.20-0.051160.01870.09-0.05-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70941021101181262K0
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

spot2050759511015560K60K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 244K call contracts, 171K 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: UAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk