Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 12:13 AM ET

XOM max pain

Spot (delayed)$163.28
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$145-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.13±11.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8486K puts / 103K calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3028.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 25$160-2.0%5d
Fri, Oct 2$160-2.0%12d
Fri, Oct 9$162.5-0.5%19d
Fri, Oct 16$155-5.1%26d
Fri, Oct 23$160-2.0%33d
Fri, Oct 30$165+1.1%40d
Fri, Nov 20$155-5.1%61d
Fri, Dec 18$145-11.2%89d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1455092134176218260$1.0B$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot145508512015519025031K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XOM 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

spot1455085120155190250905905
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot509213417621826088%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 14075105135165195250+$8.4M$8.4M
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
0.94-0.021300.00480.10-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.031350.00660.14-0.03-0.10
0.87-0.031400.00870.18-0.03-0.14
0.81-0.041450.01100.22-0.04-0.20
0.75-0.041500.01320.26-0.04-0.26
0.68-0.051550.01510.29-0.05-0.33
0.60-0.051600.01640.31-0.05-0.41
0.51-0.051650.01700.32-0.05-0.50
0.43-0.051700.01670.32-0.05-0.58
0.35-0.051750.01580.30-0.05-0.66
0.28-0.041800.01440.28-0.04-0.73
0.23-0.041850.01270.24-0.04-0.79
0.18-0.031900.01080.21-0.03-0.83
0.14-0.031950.00910.18-0.03-0.87
0.11-0.032000.00760.15-0.03-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot125145152.5167.5182.5197.54K0
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

spot50100141152.5177.520569K69K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 561K call contracts, 374K 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: XOM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk