Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 10:29 PM ET

APH max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.24
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$77.5-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.2±22.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.897K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3041.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$257Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$80-8.3%4d
Fri, Nov 20$80-8.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$72.5-16.9%67d
Fri, Jan 15$67.5-22.6%95d
Fri, Mar 19$77.5-11.2%158d
Fri, Apr 16$80-8.3%186d
Thu, Jun 17$80-8.3%248d
Fri, Sep 17$82.5-5.4%340d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot77.533517088107125$34M$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 — 77.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot77.532.547.562.577.592.51152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APH 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

spot77.532.547.562.577.592.51153535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3351708810712583%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4032.552.567.582.597.5125+$169K−$169K
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
0.83-0.02700.00990.15-0.02-0.17
0.80-0.0272.50.01110.16-0.02-0.20
0.77-0.02750.01230.18-0.02-0.23
0.73-0.0277.50.01330.19-0.03-0.27
0.69-0.03800.01430.20-0.03-0.31
0.66-0.0382.50.01500.21-0.03-0.35
0.61-0.03850.01570.22-0.03-0.39
0.57-0.0387.50.01610.23-0.03-0.43
0.54-0.03900.01640.23-0.03-0.47
0.49-0.0392.50.01650.23-0.03-0.52
0.46-0.03950.01640.23-0.03-0.56
0.42-0.0397.50.01620.23-0.03-0.60
0.38-0.031000.01590.22-0.03-0.63
0.32-0.031050.01480.21-0.03-0.70
0.26-0.021100.01350.19-0.03-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.547.562.577.592.511519K0
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

spot17.53552.57087.511054K54K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 192K 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: APH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk