Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:18 AM ET

AG max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.81
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20+35.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.09±27.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.2212K puts / 53K calls
Call wall$37largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3056.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$152Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$17+14.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$17+14.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$16.5+11.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$17+14.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15.5+4.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$15+1.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$15+1.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+1.3%81d
Fri, Mar 19$20+35.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$20+35.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot201815233037$32M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot201101520253024K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AG 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

spot2011015202530331331
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot31017233037157%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 551318232837+$67K−$67K
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
1.000.0050.00230.000.00-0.01
0.96-0.0080.01410.01-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.00100.03210.02-0.00-0.10
0.85-0.00110.04350.02-0.00-0.15
0.79-0.01120.05490.03-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.01130.06490.03-0.01-0.28
0.65-0.01140.07220.04-0.01-0.36
0.57-0.01150.07620.04-0.01-0.44
0.50-0.01160.07700.04-0.01-0.51
0.44-0.01170.07530.04-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.01180.07170.04-0.01-0.64
0.33-0.01190.06710.03-0.01-0.70
0.28-0.01200.06190.03-0.01-0.75
0.24-0.01210.05660.03-0.01-0.79
0.21-0.01220.05150.03-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot514.517.520.523.526.54K0
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

spot110.51519.52430161K161K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 559K call contracts, 388K 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: AG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk