Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:28 PM ET

AMP max pain

Spot (delayed)$494.14
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$470-4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72.85±14.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.32626 puts / 270 calls
Call wall$540largest call OI
Put wall$410largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$141Kper 1% move

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$430-13.0%24d
Fri, Dec 18$500+1.2%52d
Fri, Mar 19$470-4.9%143d
Thu, Jun 17$460-6.9%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot470320412504596688780$5M$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 — 470 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot470320390470540610720508508
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMP 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

spot47032039047054061072011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot32041250459668878043%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot320390480550620740+$285K−$285K
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
0.85-0.074100.00220.72-0.08-0.15
0.80-0.094300.00280.87-0.10-0.20
0.77-0.104400.00310.94-0.10-0.24
0.73-0.104500.00341.01-0.11-0.27
0.70-0.114600.00361.07-0.12-0.31
0.66-0.124700.00391.13-0.12-0.35
0.62-0.124800.00411.17-0.12-0.39
0.58-0.124900.00421.20-0.13-0.43
0.53-0.125000.00441.22-0.13-0.47
0.49-0.125100.00441.23-0.13-0.52
0.45-0.125200.00441.22-0.12-0.57
0.40-0.125300.00441.19-0.12-0.61
0.36-0.115400.00431.16-0.12-0.66
0.32-0.115500.00411.11-0.11-0.70
0.29-0.105600.00401.05-0.10-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3404305005606207001K0
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

spot2403304205106006901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: AMP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk