Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 4:26 AM ET

UCTT max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$65+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.65±29.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.491K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3086.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 27usually after the close

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 16$70+10.2%2d
Fri, Nov 20$75+18.1%37d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 27)
Fri, Dec 18$65+2.4%65d
Fri, Mar 19$45-29.1%156d
Fri, Jan 21$65+2.4%464d
Fri, Jan 19$40-37.0%828d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot653568101134167200$26M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65356595125155195302302
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UCTT 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

spot653565951251551954141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3568101134167200141%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 90356595125155195+$17K−$17K
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
0.96-0.01350.00340.02-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.02400.00580.04-0.02-0.07
0.88-0.03450.00880.06-0.04-0.12
0.81-0.04500.01190.07-0.05-0.19
0.73-0.05550.01470.09-0.06-0.27
0.65-0.06600.01660.10-0.06-0.36
0.56-0.07650.01760.11-0.07-0.45
0.48-0.07700.01780.11-0.07-0.53
0.40-0.06750.01720.11-0.07-0.61
0.33-0.06800.01610.10-0.06-0.68
0.28-0.06850.01470.09-0.06-0.74
0.23-0.05900.01320.08-0.05-0.79
0.19-0.05950.01160.07-0.04-0.83
0.15-0.041000.01020.07-0.04-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3565951251551956K0
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

spot3565951251551856K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 5K 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: UCTT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk