Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:02 AM ET

AAOI max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.31
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$100+48.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.95±47.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.3011K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV30107.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$194Kper 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, Oct 30$82+21.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$95+41.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$79+17.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$95+41.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$92+36.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$67-0.5%39d
Fri, Dec 18$100+48.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$85+26.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$85+26.3%116d
Fri, Mar 19$100+48.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$85+26.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1004076112148184220$64M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10040701001301601902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAOI 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

spot1004070100130160190301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4076112148184220106%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4070100130160190+$82K−$82K
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
0.89-0.03400.00470.09-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.03450.00580.10-0.04-0.16
0.80-0.04500.00680.12-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.04550.00770.14-0.04-0.25
0.71-0.05600.00850.15-0.05-0.30
0.66-0.05650.00910.16-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.05700.00950.17-0.05-0.40
0.57-0.05750.00980.17-0.06-0.44
0.53-0.06800.00990.17-0.06-0.49
0.49-0.06850.00990.17-0.06-0.53
0.45-0.06900.00980.17-0.06-0.57
0.42-0.05950.00960.17-0.06-0.60
0.38-0.051000.00940.16-0.06-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot507586981101273K0
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

spot7.5508210516023022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 205K call contracts, 184K 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: AAOI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk