Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:58 AM ET

CHRD max pain

Spot (delayed)$158.13
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$110-30.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.1±19.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1645 puts / 286 calls
Call wall$155largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3039.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$55Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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$140-11.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$125-21.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$140-11.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$110-30.4%145d
Thu, Jun 17$105-33.6%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11085112139166193220$2M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11085110135160185220116116
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHRD 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

spot1108511013516018522033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8511213916619322062%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 10585110135160185220+$29K−$29K
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
0.84-0.031250.00560.23-0.04-0.16
0.81-0.041300.00640.26-0.04-0.20
0.78-0.041350.00730.29-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.041400.00820.33-0.05-0.28
0.69-0.051450.00900.34-0.05-0.32
0.64-0.051500.00960.37-0.05-0.37
0.59-0.051550.01010.38-0.05-0.42
0.54-0.051600.01040.39-0.05-0.47
0.49-0.051650.01050.39-0.05-0.52
0.44-0.051700.01050.39-0.05-0.57
0.39-0.051750.01020.38-0.05-0.62
0.34-0.051800.00980.36-0.05-0.67
0.30-0.041850.00930.34-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.041900.00880.32-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.041950.00810.30-0.04-0.78

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

spot901151401651906950
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

spot4575105135165195715715
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: CHRD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk