Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:20 AM ET

AVGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.15
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35+12.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13±41.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.36678 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3082.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$34+9.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$40+28.4%54d
Fri, Mar 19$35+12.4%145d
Thu, Jun 17$33+6.0%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35203346597285$7M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35203542495866616616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AVGX 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

spot352035424958661212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20334659728599%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 30203542495866+$12K−$12K
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
0.84-0.01200.01490.04-0.01-0.15
0.73-0.02250.02020.06-0.02-0.26
0.60-0.02300.02320.07-0.02-0.37
0.58-0.02310.02350.07-0.02-0.39
0.56-0.02320.02370.07-0.02-0.42
0.53-0.02330.02380.08-0.02-0.44
0.51-0.02340.02380.08-0.02-0.46
0.49-0.02350.02370.08-0.02-0.48
0.47-0.02360.02360.08-0.02-0.50
0.45-0.02370.02340.08-0.02-0.52
0.43-0.02380.02310.07-0.02-0.54

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2035455566852K0
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

spot2037506376892K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K 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: AVGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk