Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 10:08 AM ET

AIG max pain

Spot (delayed)$83.03
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$80-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.75±11.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.67793 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$72.5largest put OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$126Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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 23$78-6.1%today
Fri, Oct 30$77-7.3%7d
Fri, Nov 6$76-8.5%14d
Fri, Nov 13$78-6.1%21d
Fri, Nov 20$80-3.6%28d
Fri, Nov 27$78-6.1%35d
Fri, Dec 18$75-9.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$77.5-6.7%84d
Fri, Feb 19$75-9.7%119d
Fri, Mar 19$80-3.6%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8040577491108125$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot80405572.585105401401
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AIG 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

spot80405572.5851052929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4057749110812569%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 85405572.585105+$65K−$65K
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
0.91-0.01650.00940.09-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.0167.50.01180.10-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.01700.01480.11-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.0172.50.01820.14-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01750.02220.16-0.01-0.23
0.72-0.0177.50.02620.18-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01800.02970.19-0.01-0.36
0.57-0.0182.50.03200.20-0.02-0.44
0.49-0.02850.03260.21-0.02-0.52
0.42-0.0287.50.03160.20-0.02-0.60
0.35-0.01900.02930.20-0.01-0.67
0.24-0.01950.02360.17-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.011000.01810.14-0.01-0.85
0.13-0.011050.01380.11-0.01-0.90
0.10-0.011100.01060.09-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4565717681864280
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

spot3562.57077.58592.58K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 34K 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: AIG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk