Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

CONL max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.32
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$6+39.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.78±64.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.762K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30135.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$666per 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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$5+15.8%5d
Fri, Nov 6$5.5+27.4%12d
Fri, Nov 13$5.5+27.4%19d
Fri, Nov 20$6+39.0%26d
Fri, Nov 27$5+15.8%33d
Fri, Dec 4$4.5+4.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$6+39.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$7+62.1%82d
Fri, Mar 19$6+39.0%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot613681113$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 — 6 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot61471013410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CONL 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

spot61471013110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13681113258%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 132.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 21471013+$401−$401
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
0.96-0.0010.01370.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.0020.03990.01-0.00-0.10
0.81-0.0030.07230.01-0.00-0.19
0.70-0.0040.09660.01-0.00-0.30
0.60-0.0150.10850.01-0.01-0.40
0.51-0.0160.11140.01-0.01-0.49
0.44-0.0170.10940.01-0.01-0.56
0.38-0.0180.10470.01-0.01-0.63
0.33-0.0090.09900.01-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.00100.09290.01-0.01-0.72
0.26-0.00110.08680.01-0.00-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot34.567.593K0
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

spot15.5101622509K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 74K call contracts, 45K 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: CONL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk