Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:03 AM ET

ARCT max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.03
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$10-0.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±44.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.19125 puts / 642 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3092.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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$12.5+24.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+24.6%54d
Fri, Mar 19$10-0.3%145d
Thu, Jun 17$10-0.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103814192530$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot102.57.511152025314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARCT 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

spot102.57.5111520252626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3814192530284%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2.57.511152025+$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
0.96-0.002.50.00710.01-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0050.02290.01-0.00-0.10
0.79-0.017.50.05130.02-0.01-0.21
0.62-0.01100.07130.02-0.01-0.39
0.55-0.01110.07260.03-0.01-0.46
0.47-0.0112.50.07060.03-0.01-0.55
0.36-0.01150.06320.02-0.01-0.66
0.29-0.0117.50.05510.02-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01200.04790.02-0.01-0.79
0.20-0.0122.50.04180.02-0.01-0.84
0.17-0.01250.03660.01-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.5101420307440
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

spot2.5710131720744744
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: ARCT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk