Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 3:48 AM ET

YUMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.76
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$42.5-5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.45±14.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.41329 puts / 233 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$42.5largest put OI
IV3032.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 1% move

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$42.5-5.0%28d
Fri, Dec 18$40-10.6%56d
Fri, Jan 15$45+0.5%84d
Fri, Mar 19$42.5-5.0%147d
Fri, Apr 16$40-10.6%175d
Thu, Jun 17$45+0.5%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42.5233140485765$1M$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 — 42.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot42.522.532.54047.555245245
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)YUMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot42.522.532.54047.55511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot23314048576571%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot22.532.54047.555+$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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98—250.00390.01-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.0027.50.00590.02-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0032.50.01260.04-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01350.01850.05-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.0137.50.02650.07-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.01400.03590.09-0.01-0.25
0.66-0.0142.50.04480.10-0.01-0.35
0.54-0.01450.05010.11-0.01-0.47
0.42-0.0147.50.04960.11-0.01-0.59
0.31-0.01500.04450.10-0.01-0.70
0.23-0.0152.50.03720.09-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.01550.02990.07-0.01-0.85
0.09-0.01600.01840.05-0.00-0.93
0.05-0.00650.01120.03—-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2537.547.557.5704K0
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

spot17.527.537.547.557.5704K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 6K 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: YUMC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk