Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 2:51 AM ET

CHTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120+8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.95±32.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.168K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3076.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$223Kper 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 23$111+0.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$112+1.4%9d
Fri, Nov 6$111+0.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$120+8.6%23d
Fri, Nov 20$120+8.6%30d
Fri, Nov 27$110-0.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$135+22.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$150+35.7%86d
Fri, Mar 19$120+8.6%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12055136217298379460$190M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot120551051552103104103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHTR 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

spot120551051552103104101212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot55136217298379460115%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot55105155210310410+$252K−$252K
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
0.88-0.02750.00430.15-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.03800.00510.17-0.04-0.16
0.81-0.03850.00590.19-0.04-0.19
0.77-0.04900.00660.21-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.04950.00720.23-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.051000.00780.25-0.05-0.32
0.65-0.051050.00830.26-0.05-0.36
0.60-0.051100.00860.27-0.06-0.41
0.56-0.061150.00880.28-0.06-0.45
0.52-0.061200.00890.28-0.06-0.49
0.48-0.061250.00890.28-0.06-0.54
0.44-0.061300.00880.28-0.05-0.58
0.40-0.061350.00870.27-0.05-0.61
0.37-0.051400.00840.27-0.05-0.65
0.34-0.051450.00820.26-0.05-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851061181301462002K0
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

spot5510314019028042022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 150K call contracts, 60K 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: CHTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk