Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:29 PM ET

APD max pain

Spot (delayed)$308.22
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$300-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.7±13.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.89699 puts / 788 calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3029.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$217Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $350

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$290-5.9%28d
Fri, Dec 18$290-5.9%56d
Fri, Jan 15$260-15.6%84d
Fri, Mar 19$300-2.7%147d
Thu, Jun 17$290-5.9%237d
Fri, Sep 17$280-9.2%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300145206267328389450$9M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot300145180220280340400333333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APD 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

spot30014518022028034040088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14520626732838945067%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 350145180220280340400+$212K−$212K
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
0.92-0.022400.00240.30-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.032500.00310.37-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.042600.00390.45-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.042700.00480.53-0.05-0.19
0.76-0.052800.00580.61-0.06-0.25
0.70-0.062900.00660.68-0.06-0.31
0.63-0.063000.00740.74-0.07-0.39
0.55-0.063100.00790.77-0.07-0.47
0.47-0.063200.00800.78-0.07-0.55
0.39-0.063300.00790.75-0.06-0.63
0.32-0.063400.00740.70-0.06-0.70
0.26-0.053500.00670.64-0.05-0.77
0.21-0.053600.00580.57-0.04-0.82
0.17-0.043700.00500.49-0.04-0.87
0.13-0.043800.00420.43-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1352002603203804403K0
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

spot1201602002803604403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 7K 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: APD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk