Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 10:01 AM ET

ASND max pain

Spot (delayed)$245.25
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$230-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.3±20.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.73831 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3041.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$157Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$230-6.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$240-2.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$250+1.9%80d
Fri, Mar 19$230-6.2%143d
Fri, Apr 16$260+6.0%171d
Fri, Dec 17$220-10.3%416d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230110168226284342400$11M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot230110165210270330390544544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASND 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

spot23011016521027033039011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11016822628434240064%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 125110165210270330390+$196K−$196K
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
0.89-0.041850.00280.30-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.051950.00340.36-0.06-0.15
0.83-0.052000.00380.39-0.06-0.17
0.78-0.062100.00440.46-0.07-0.22
0.73-0.072200.00500.51-0.08-0.28
0.67-0.082300.00560.56-0.08-0.33
0.61-0.082400.00600.59-0.09-0.40
0.55-0.092500.00620.61-0.09-0.46
0.49-0.092600.00620.61-0.09-0.52
0.44-0.092700.00620.61-0.09-0.58
0.38-0.082800.00600.59-0.09-0.64
0.33-0.082900.00570.56-0.08-0.70
0.29-0.073000.00530.53-0.08-0.74
0.25-0.073100.00490.49-0.07-0.79
0.21-0.063200.00450.45-0.07-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1151551852302903501K0
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

spot1001401802403204001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: ASND workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk