Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:44 PM ET

CBRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$108.5
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$165+52.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.05±39.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.828K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3091.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$187Kper 1% move

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, Oct 30$117+7.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$145+33.6%11d
Fri, Nov 13$150+38.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$160+47.5%25d
Fri, Nov 27$150+38.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$135+24.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$135+24.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$165+52.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$165+52.1%144d
Fri, Apr 16$165+52.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16560148236324412500$254M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot165601101602203204201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CBRS 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

spot16560110160220320420142142
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60148236324412500108%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60110160220320420+$105K−$105K
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
0.85-0.04750.00430.16-0.05-0.16
0.82-0.05800.00490.18-0.05-0.19
0.78-0.05850.00540.20-0.06-0.22
0.75-0.06900.00580.22-0.06-0.26
0.71-0.06950.00620.23-0.07-0.29
0.68-0.071000.00660.25-0.07-0.33
0.64-0.071050.00680.26-0.07-0.37
0.61-0.071100.00700.26-0.07-0.40
0.57-0.071150.00720.27-0.07-0.44
0.54-0.071200.00720.27-0.07-0.47
0.51-0.071250.00730.27-0.07-0.50
0.48-0.071300.00720.27-0.07-0.54
0.45-0.071350.00720.27-0.07-0.56
0.42-0.071400.00710.27-0.07-0.59
0.40-0.071450.00700.26-0.07-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 59 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60110126157.51902304K0
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

spot6511014519529042014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 154K call contracts, 144K 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: CBRS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk