Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:56 AM ET

CENX max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40+26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±32.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI3.653K puts / 718 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3067.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$68Kper 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, Nov 20$35+10.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$37.5+18.3%54d
Fri, Jan 15$45+41.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$40+26.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$25-21.2%235d
Fri, Jan 21$42+32.4%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40203244566880$3M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4020304050701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CENX 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

spot40203040507088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20324456688091%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2030405070+$37K−$37K
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
0.90-0.01200.01260.04-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.0122.50.01720.05-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01250.02200.06-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.0127.50.02660.07-0.01-0.28
0.65-0.02300.03000.07-0.02-0.36
0.57-0.0232.50.03210.08-0.02-0.44
0.49-0.02350.03260.08-0.02-0.52
0.42-0.0237.50.03190.08-0.02-0.60
0.36-0.02400.03030.07-0.02-0.66
0.31-0.0142.50.02820.07-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.01450.02580.07-0.01-0.77
0.23-0.0147.50.02350.06-0.01-0.81
0.20-0.01500.02120.06-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3203242558512K0
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

spot317253747.58012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 15K 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: CENX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk