Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:31 PM ET

APA max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.45
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$45-10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.85±23.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.077K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3049.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$158Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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 30$49-2.9%3d
Fri, Nov 6$50-0.9%10d
Fri, Nov 13$48-4.9%17d
Fri, Nov 20$47-6.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$51+1.1%31d
Fri, Dec 4$51+1.1%38d
Fri, Dec 18$40-20.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$20-60.4%80d
Fri, Mar 19$45-10.8%143d
Fri, Apr 16$42.5-15.8%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45182941526475$16M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4517.527.537.547.557.5752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APA 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

spot4517.527.537.547.557.5755050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot182941526475100%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 5517.527.537.547.557.575+$168K−$168K
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
0.94-0.0132.50.00710.04-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01350.00970.05-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0137.50.01270.06-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01400.01600.08-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.0142.50.01920.09-0.02-0.22
0.73-0.02450.02210.11-0.02-0.28
0.67-0.0247.50.02450.12-0.02-0.34
0.60-0.02500.02620.12-0.02-0.41
0.53-0.0252.50.02710.13-0.02-0.48
0.47-0.02550.02730.13-0.02-0.54
0.41-0.0257.50.02670.12-0.02-0.61
0.35-0.02600.02550.12-0.02-0.67
0.26-0.02650.02200.10-0.02-0.77
0.19-0.01700.01810.09-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.01750.01450.07-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot253943.54751581K0
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

spot2.527.53844.549.557.521K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 116K call contracts, 58K 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: APA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk