Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 1:45 AM ET

UNH max pain

Spot (delayed)$379.98
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$380+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.35±9.6% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI2.252K puts / 677 calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$360largest put OI
IV3040.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$785Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 27usually after the close

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$387.5+2.0%5d
Fri, Oct 23$380+0.0%12d
Fri, Oct 30$375-1.3%19d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 27)
Fri, Nov 6$370-2.6%26d
Fri, Nov 13$380+0.0%33d
Fri, Nov 20$390+2.6%40d
Fri, Nov 27$355-6.6%47d
Fri, Dec 18$350-7.9%68d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380300334368402436470$9M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot380300330360390420450465465
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UNH open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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, Nov 13

spot380300330360390420450254254
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot30033436840243647058%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot300330360390420450+$565K−$565K
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, Nov 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.183450.00590.32-0.18-0.19
0.77-0.203500.00650.35-0.20-0.23
0.74-0.213550.00700.38-0.22-0.26
0.70-0.233600.00750.41-0.23-0.30
0.66-0.243650.00800.43-0.24-0.34
0.62-0.253700.00830.45-0.25-0.39
0.57-0.263750.00850.46-0.26-0.43
0.53-0.263800.00870.47-0.26-0.47
0.49-0.263850.00870.47-0.26-0.52
0.45-0.263900.00870.47-0.26-0.56
0.40-0.253950.00850.46-0.26-0.60
0.36-0.244000.00830.44-0.25-0.64
0.32-0.234050.00800.42-0.24-0.68
0.29-0.224100.00760.40-0.22-0.72
0.25-0.204150.00710.38-0.21-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot250325362.5387.54204707K0
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

spot12520030037547058041K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 465K call contracts, 376K 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: UNH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk