Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:52 PM ET

ADSK max pain

Spot (delayed)$249.82
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$190-23.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$55.45±22.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.522K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$195largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3047.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$480Kper 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, Oct 30$230-7.9%3d
Fri, Nov 6$230-7.9%10d
Fri, Nov 13$250+0.1%17d
Fri, Nov 20$235-5.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$230-7.9%31d
Fri, Dec 4$200-19.9%38d
Fri, Dec 18$230-7.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$260+4.1%80d
Fri, Mar 19$190-23.9%143d
Fri, Apr 16$270+8.1%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot190100156212268324380$82M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1901001351752202903602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ADSK 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

spot1901001351752202903605050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10015621226832438097%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 190100135175220290360+$315K−$315K
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
0.87-0.051900.00280.33-0.05-0.13
0.85-0.051950.00310.36-0.06-0.15
0.84-0.062000.00340.39-0.06-0.17
0.79-0.072100.00400.45-0.07-0.21
0.74-0.072200.00450.51-0.08-0.26
0.69-0.082300.00500.55-0.09-0.32
0.64-0.092400.00540.59-0.09-0.37
0.58-0.092500.00560.61-0.10-0.43
0.53-0.092600.00580.63-0.10-0.49
0.47-0.092700.00580.62-0.10-0.55
0.42-0.092800.00570.61-0.09-0.60
0.37-0.092900.00550.59-0.09-0.66
0.32-0.083000.00520.56-0.09-0.70
0.28-0.083100.00490.53-0.08-0.75
0.24-0.073200.00460.49-0.08-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot180225240252.52652855980
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

spot95160215247.52903903K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 25K 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: ADSK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk