Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:24 PM ET

CMCSA max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.05
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$24+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.07±18.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.9418K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3034.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$23+4.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$20-9.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$23+4.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$22-0.2%25d
Fri, Nov 27$22-0.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$22-0.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$24+8.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$24+8.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$24+8.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$23+4.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24131824293540$26M$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 — 24 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot241317212529375K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMCSA 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

spot24131721252937451451
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13182429354064%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 30131721252937+$64K−$64K
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
0.96-0.00150.01720.01-0.00-0.06
0.94-0.00160.02570.02-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.00170.03640.02-0.00-0.12
0.85-0.00180.04780.03-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01190.05850.04-0.01-0.23
0.72-0.01200.06790.05-0.01-0.29
0.64-0.01210.07520.05-0.01-0.37
0.56-0.01220.07970.05-0.01-0.45
0.48-0.01230.08110.06-0.01-0.53
0.41-0.01240.07930.05-0.01-0.61
0.34-0.01250.07490.05-0.01-0.68
0.28-0.01260.06860.05-0.01-0.74
0.23-0.01270.06130.04-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.00280.05360.04-0.00-0.84
0.15-0.00290.04610.03-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot151921.52426.5317K0
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

spot1318.52225.53037176K176K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 544K call contracts, 229K 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: CMCSA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk