Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

AMZZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.3
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20-36.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.25±35.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.2491 puts / 372 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3084.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$34+8.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$35+11.8%54d
Fri, Mar 19$20-36.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$24-23.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20152433425160$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20152530344055237237
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMZZ 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

spot2015253034405511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15243342516093%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 20152531354460+$3K−$3K
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
0.81-0.01230.01780.05-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01240.01920.06-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.02250.02060.06-0.02-0.23
0.73-0.02260.02180.06-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02270.02300.07-0.02-0.29
0.68-0.02280.02400.07-0.02-0.31
0.63-0.02300.02580.07-0.02-0.37
0.60-0.02310.02640.08-0.02-0.40
0.57-0.02320.02690.08-0.02-0.42
0.55-0.02330.02730.08-0.02-0.45
0.52-0.02340.02750.08-0.02-0.47
0.49-0.02350.02760.08-0.02-0.50
0.47-0.02360.02760.08-0.02-0.53
0.42-0.02380.02730.08-0.02-0.57
0.38-0.02400.02660.07-0.02-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1527323742554610
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

spot152632384450461461
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: AMZZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk