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

UAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$100.79
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$95-5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.2±14.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.3848K puts / 129K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3047.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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, 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

spot95205692128164200$1.0B$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot95204567.59012517055K55K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UAL 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

spot95204567.5901251703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot205692128164200164%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 11525477092.5130175+$10.1M−$10.1M
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
0.88-0.0382.50.01040.08-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.04850.01240.09-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.0587.50.01430.10-0.05-0.19
0.77-0.05900.01630.12-0.05-0.23
0.72-0.0692.50.01820.13-0.06-0.28
0.68-0.06950.01980.14-0.06-0.33
0.62-0.0697.50.02120.15-0.06-0.38
0.57-0.071000.02210.15-0.07-0.44
0.46-0.071050.02260.15-0.07-0.55
0.35-0.061100.02130.14-0.06-0.66
0.26-0.051150.01880.13-0.05-0.75
0.18-0.041200.01550.10-0.04-0.83
0.13-0.031250.01210.08-0.03-0.90
0.09-0.031300.00910.06-0.03-0.94
0.06-0.021350.00670.04-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 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