Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:30 AM ET

BL max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.1
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$25-26.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.35±30.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.523K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3067.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$99Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $27.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$27.5-19.4%23d
Fri, Dec 18$27.5-19.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$30-12.0%79d
Fri, Feb 19$25-26.7%114d
Fri, Mar 19$25-26.7%142d
Fri, May 21$20-41.3%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152228354148$10M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot251522.53037.5455K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BL 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

spot251522.53037.54599
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot152228354148122%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 27.51522.53037.545+$123K−$123K
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
0.96-0.0017.50.00590.02-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01200.00900.03-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0122.50.01280.04-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01250.01710.05-0.01-0.16
0.79-0.0127.50.02160.06-0.01-0.22
0.72-0.01300.02560.07-0.02-0.29
0.65-0.0232.50.02860.08-0.02-0.36
0.57-0.02350.03040.08-0.02-0.44
0.50-0.0237.50.03100.09-0.02-0.51
0.43-0.02400.03040.08-0.02-0.58
0.38-0.0242.50.02910.08-0.02-0.65
0.32-0.02450.02720.08-0.02-0.70
0.28-0.0147.50.02520.07-0.01-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15253545557023K0
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

spot1527.54052.5658528K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 7K 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: BL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk