Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 11, 11:19 PM ET

ALL max pain

Spot (delayed)$253.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$220-13.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.15±15.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.981K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3022.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$179Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$250-1.5%6d
Fri, Oct 16$260+2.5%34d
Fri, Dec 18$230-9.3%97d
Fri, Jan 15$230-9.3%125d
Fri, Mar 19$220-13.3%188d
Fri, Apr 16$185-27.1%216d
Thu, Jun 17$240-5.4%278d
Fri, Sep 17$220-13.3%370d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot220105156207258309360$17M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot220105135165195250310263263
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALL 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

spot2201051351651952503105050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10515620725830936066%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 140105140170200260320+$102K$102K
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
0.93-0.021900.00240.26-0.02-0.08
0.91-0.021950.00280.29-0.03-0.09
0.90-0.022000.00320.33-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.032100.00420.41-0.03-0.15
0.81-0.042200.00520.50-0.04-0.20
0.75-0.042300.00630.58-0.04-0.26
0.68-0.052400.00720.65-0.05-0.33
0.60-0.052500.00800.70-0.05-0.41
0.52-0.052600.00840.72-0.05-0.49
0.44-0.052700.00840.71-0.05-0.58
0.36-0.052800.00810.68-0.05-0.66
0.29-0.042900.00750.62-0.04-0.74
0.23-0.043000.00660.56-0.04-0.81
0.18-0.033100.00570.48-0.04-0.88
0.14-0.033200.00480.40-0.04-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301752002503003501K0
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

spot951351752303103905K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 21K 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: ALL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk