Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:29 PM ET

A max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.89
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120-31.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.75±18.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.71853 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$123Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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$170-2.2%28d
Fri, Dec 18$160-8.0%56d
Fri, Jan 15$130-25.2%84d
Fri, Feb 19$155-10.9%119d
Fri, Mar 19$120-31.0%147d
Fri, May 21$165-5.1%210d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206098136174212250$12M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1206090125155185230153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)A 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

spot120609012515518523011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot609813617421225099%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1506090125155185230+$32K−$32K
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
0.85-0.031400.00520.25-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.031450.00610.29-0.04-0.18
0.79-0.041500.00690.32-0.04-0.21
0.75-0.041550.00770.35-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.041600.00840.38-0.05-0.30
0.66-0.051650.00900.41-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.051700.00940.42-0.05-0.40
0.56-0.051750.00980.43-0.05-0.45
0.51-0.051800.00990.44-0.05-0.50
0.47-0.051850.00990.44-0.05-0.55
0.42-0.051900.00980.43-0.05-0.59
0.38-0.051950.00950.42-0.05-0.64
0.34-0.052000.00910.40-0.05-0.68
0.26-0.042100.00810.36-0.04-0.76
0.20-0.042200.00700.31-0.04-0.83

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

spot60901201501802203K0
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

spot55851151451752103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 8K 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: A workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk