Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:03 AM ET

AWI max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.2
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$160-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.55±15.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.65103 puts / 159 calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3035.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$23Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$170+3.5%24d
Fri, Dec 18$160-2.6%52d
Fri, Mar 19$160-2.6%143d
Thu, Jun 17$145-11.7%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16090118146174202230$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot160901151401651902306767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AWI 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

spot1609011514016519023022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot9011814617420223070%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 9590115140165190230+$18K−$18K
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
0.89-0.021300.00500.20-0.02-0.11
0.86-0.021350.00610.23-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.031400.00730.26-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.031450.00860.30-0.03-0.21
0.74-0.031500.01000.33-0.04-0.26
0.69-0.041550.01120.37-0.04-0.32
0.63-0.041600.01220.39-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.041650.01280.41-0.04-0.44
0.50-0.041700.01310.41-0.04-0.51
0.44-0.041750.01300.41-0.04-0.58
0.38-0.041800.01250.39-0.04-0.64
0.33-0.041850.01180.37-0.04-0.70
0.28-0.041900.01080.35-0.04-0.75
0.24-0.031950.00990.32-0.04-0.80
0.20-0.032000.00890.29-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901301601852205330
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

spot85115145175210270533533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 885 call contracts, 315 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: AWI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk