Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:03 AM ET

APPX max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.45
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$10+18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.55±65.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.24765 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV30157.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $9

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$10+18.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$14+65.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$10+18.3%145d
Thu, Jun 17$10+18.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot101917243240$6M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot101916233039736736
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APPX 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

spot1019162330392121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1917243240253%107%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 133.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 93915212735+$2K−$2K
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
0.98-0.0010.00330.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.0030.01450.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.0140.02260.01-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.0150.03140.01-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.0160.03940.01-0.01-0.20
0.74-0.0170.04540.02-0.01-0.25
0.68-0.0180.04950.02-0.01-0.31
0.63-0.0190.05200.02-0.01-0.36
0.59-0.01100.05330.02-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01110.05370.02-0.01-0.44
0.51-0.01120.05360.02-0.01-0.48
0.48-0.01130.05300.02-0.01-0.52
0.45-0.01140.05220.02-0.01-0.55
0.42-0.01150.05120.02-0.01-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot112223242531K0
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

spot112233445562K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 5K 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: APPX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk