Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 3:34 AM ET

VAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$55-37.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$37.45±42.4% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI1.21937 puts / 775 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3047.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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, Nov 20$85-3.8%30d
Fri, Dec 18$70-20.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-51.9%86d
Fri, Feb 19$65-26.4%121d
Fri, May 21$95+7.5%212d
Fri, Dec 17$55-37.7%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55184573100128155$5M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot5517.53552.572.592.5140297297
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VAL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot5517.53552.572.592.514011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot18457310012815592%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 2017.53552.572.592.5140+$19K−$19K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01650.00510.25-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.01700.00580.28-0.02-0.22
0.76-0.0172.50.00610.29-0.02-0.24
0.74-0.01750.00640.30-0.02-0.26
0.72-0.0277.50.00670.31-0.02-0.28
0.70-0.02800.00700.32-0.02-0.30
0.67-0.02850.00740.34-0.02-0.34
0.65-0.0287.50.00760.35-0.02-0.36
0.63-0.02900.00780.36-0.02-0.39
0.61-0.0292.50.00790.36-0.02-0.41
0.59-0.02950.00810.37-0.02-0.43
0.57-0.0297.50.00820.37-0.02-0.45
0.55-0.021000.00820.37-0.02-0.47
0.42-0.021200.00820.37-0.02-0.63
0.39-0.021250.00800.36-0.02-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15355575951307K0
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

spot15355575951307K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 10K 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: VAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk