Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:46 PM ET

AMDG max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.25
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$50-45.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$46.1±50.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3435 puts / 104 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV30120.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 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, Nov 20$110+19.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$40-56.6%54d
Fri, Mar 19$50-45.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$100+8.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot504072104136168200$1M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5040751001111311602929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMDG 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

spot50407510011113116011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4072104136168200112%98%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 102.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 854075100111131160+$706−$706
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
0.89-0.04500.00300.11-0.04-0.11
0.83-0.05600.00390.14-0.05-0.16
0.80-0.06650.00440.16-0.06-0.19
0.77-0.06700.00480.17-0.06-0.22
0.74-0.07750.00520.19-0.07-0.25
0.70-0.07800.00550.20-0.07-0.29
0.67-0.07850.00580.21-0.07-0.32
0.61-0.08950.00620.22-0.08-0.38
0.59-0.08980.00630.22-0.08-0.40
0.58-0.081000.00630.23-0.08-0.41
0.56-0.081030.00640.23-0.08-0.43
0.55-0.081050.00640.23-0.08-0.44
0.54-0.081070.00640.23-0.08-0.45
0.52-0.081100.00640.23-0.08-0.47
0.52-0.081110.00650.23-0.08-0.47

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2085106125140180590
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

spot20831011151351855959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 322 call contracts, 144 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: AMDG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk