Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:48 PM ET

ARGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$869.56
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$950+9.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$170.25±19.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.31397 puts / 303 calls
Call wall$1,380largest call OI
Put wall$950largest put OI
IV3036.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$256Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $600

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$880+1.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$920+5.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$900+3.5%81d
Fri, Feb 19$970+11.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$950+9.3%144d
Fri, May 21$620-28.7%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot950400636872110813441580$21M$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 — 950 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot95040064082094011001300202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARGX 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

spot9504006408209401100130011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40063687211081344158070%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 60040064082094011001300+$305K−$305K
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
0.74-0.247800.00151.79-0.26-0.27
0.70-0.258000.00161.90-0.27-0.30
0.69-0.268100.00161.94-0.27-0.32
0.67-0.268200.00171.99-0.28-0.34
0.65-0.278300.00172.02-0.28-0.36
0.63-0.278400.00172.06-0.29-0.38
0.62-0.288500.00182.09-0.29-0.40
0.56-0.288800.00182.15-0.30-0.45
0.53-0.289000.00192.18-0.30-0.49
0.47-0.289300.00192.17-0.30-0.55
0.45-0.289400.00192.17-0.30-0.57
0.44-0.289500.00192.15-0.29-0.58
0.39-0.279800.00182.09-0.29-0.64
0.37-0.279900.00182.06-0.28-0.66
0.35-0.2710000.00182.03-0.28-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot440740830920104012205330
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

spot47072082092010401240841841
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 6K 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: ARGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk