Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:55 PM ET

WDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$347.35
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$360+3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$68.33±19.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8229K puts / 35K calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3067.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $500

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$370+6.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$370+6.5%11d
Fri, Nov 13$400+15.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$390+12.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$380+9.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$395+13.7%39d
Fri, Dec 18$360+3.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$380+9.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$450+29.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$340-2.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot360202484767049321160$2.2B$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 — 360 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot360201302703704706002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDC 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

spot3602013027037047060044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot302564827089341160253%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 500130250330410490600+$585K−$585K
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
0.84-0.192800.00270.32-0.20-0.16
0.81-0.222900.00310.36-0.23-0.19
0.77-0.243000.00350.41-0.25-0.23
0.73-0.263100.00380.44-0.27-0.27
0.69-0.283200.00410.47-0.29-0.32
0.64-0.303300.00430.50-0.30-0.36
0.60-0.313400.00450.52-0.31-0.41
0.55-0.313500.00460.53-0.32-0.45
0.50-0.323600.00460.53-0.32-0.50
0.46-0.323700.00460.53-0.32-0.55
0.42-0.313800.00460.52-0.31-0.59
0.38-0.303900.00440.50-0.30-0.63
0.34-0.294000.00430.49-0.29-0.67
0.30-0.284100.00410.46-0.28-0.70
0.27-0.264200.00380.44-0.26-0.74

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

spot250327.53704104705402K0
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

spot1512026039053068020K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 236K call contracts, 293K 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: WDC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk