Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 1:46 AM ET

CIB max pain

Spot (delayed)$97.91
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$97.5-0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.1±17.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1425 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$92.5largest put OI
IV3039.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$85per 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$97.5-0.4%34d
Fri, Dec 18$95-3.0%62d
Fri, Mar 19$97.5-0.4%153d
Fri, Apr 16$105+7.2%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot97.570788694102110$1M$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 — 97.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot97.57090951002020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIB 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

spot97.570909510033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7078869410211046%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot709095110+$3K−$3K
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
0.90-0.02700.00640.11-0.02-0.10
0.75-0.02850.01320.19-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.03900.01570.22-0.03-0.31
0.64-0.0392.50.01670.23-0.03-0.35
0.59-0.03950.01760.24-0.03-0.40
0.55-0.0397.50.01810.25-0.03-0.44
0.50-0.031000.01840.25-0.03-0.49
0.33-0.031100.01690.23-0.02-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot92.597.5105115370
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

spot5575901001201404444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 126 call contracts, 153 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: CIB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk