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

ULTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$567.47
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$545-4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72.55±12.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.583K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$720largest call OI
Put wall$430largest put OI
IV3030.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$88Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $740

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$550-3.1%3d
Fri, Oct 23$540-4.8%10d
Fri, Oct 30$565-0.4%17d
Fri, Nov 6$550-3.1%24d
Fri, Nov 13$565-0.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$505-11.0%38d
Fri, Nov 27$550-3.1%45d
Fri, Dec 18$545-4.0%66d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot545260404548692836980$63M$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 — 545 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot545260445495560620680333333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ULTA 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

spot54526044549556062068011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot260404548692836980103%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 740370460520580635720+$191K−$191K
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
0.73-0.225250.00360.81-0.23-0.28
0.69-0.245350.00380.86-0.25-0.32
0.67-0.245400.00390.88-0.25-0.34
0.65-0.255450.00400.90-0.26-0.36
0.63-0.255500.00410.92-0.26-0.38
0.61-0.265550.00420.94-0.26-0.40
0.58-0.265600.00430.95-0.27-0.42
0.56-0.265650.00430.96-0.27-0.44
0.54-0.265700.00440.96-0.27-0.47
0.50-0.265800.00440.97-0.27-0.51
0.47-0.265850.00440.97-0.27-0.53
0.45-0.265900.00440.96-0.27-0.55
0.43-0.265950.00440.96-0.26-0.58
0.41-0.266000.00440.95-0.26-0.60
0.37-0.256100.00420.92-0.25-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot420490530562.56006902300
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

spot2303904755406107402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 18K 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: ULTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk