Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:11 AM ET

ACLS max pain

Spot (delayed)$106.58
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$100-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.35±33.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.85770 puts / 907 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3074.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

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$105-1.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$125+17.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$100-6.2%144d
Thu, Jun 17$105-1.5%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1005586117148179210$4M$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

spot1005585115145175210605605
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACLS 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

spot100558511514517521033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot558611714817921079%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1906085110135160185+$28K−$28K
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
0.89-0.03700.00400.13-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.04750.00490.15-0.04-0.14
0.83-0.04800.00570.17-0.04-0.18
0.79-0.04850.00650.20-0.04-0.22
0.75-0.05900.00720.22-0.05-0.26
0.70-0.05950.00780.23-0.05-0.30
0.66-0.061000.00830.25-0.06-0.35
0.62-0.061050.00860.26-0.06-0.39
0.57-0.061100.00890.27-0.06-0.44
0.53-0.061150.00900.27-0.06-0.48
0.49-0.061200.00910.27-0.06-0.52
0.45-0.061250.00900.27-0.06-0.56
0.41-0.061300.00880.26-0.06-0.60
0.38-0.061350.00860.26-0.06-0.64
0.34-0.061400.00840.25-0.06-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40801151501852403610
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

spot4075110145180230651651
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: ACLS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk