Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:44 PM ET

CNK max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.92
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35-12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.7±19.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1992 puts / 489 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$22largest put OI
IV3043.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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$38-4.8%30d
Fri, Dec 18$34-14.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$27-32.4%86d
Fri, Mar 19$35-12.3%149d
Thu, Jun 17$40+0.2%239d
Fri, Jan 21$25-37.4%457d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35152331394755$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35152535384150255255
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNK 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

spot3515253538415011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot22293542485588%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 22152535384150+$16K−$16K
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
0.87-0.01300.01720.05-0.01-0.13
0.78-0.01340.02710.07-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01350.02970.08-0.01-0.25
0.72-0.01360.03230.09-0.01-0.28
0.68-0.01370.03460.09-0.01-0.32
0.65-0.01380.03670.09-0.01-0.36
0.61-0.01390.03830.10-0.01-0.40
0.57-0.01400.03950.10-0.01-0.44
0.53-0.01410.04020.10-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01420.04040.10-0.01-0.52
0.38-0.01450.03850.10-0.01-0.63
0.24-0.01500.03070.08-0.01-0.78
0.15-0.01550.02240.06-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1527323742472K0
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

spot1523293541472K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 6K 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: CNK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk