Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 3:10 AM ET

COR max pain

Spot (delayed)$330.11
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$310-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.6±15.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.55221 puts / 404 calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3034.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$61Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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 16$310-6.1%2d
Fri, Nov 20$310-6.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.1%65d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.1%93d
Fri, Feb 19$360+9.1%128d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.1%156d
Fri, May 21$320-3.1%219d
Fri, Sep 17$190-42.4%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310130212294376458540$7M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot310130195250310370430127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COR 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

spot31013019525031037043033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13021229437645854061%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 230130195250310370430+$47K−$47K
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
0.88-0.032600.00250.42-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.042700.00300.49-0.05-0.15
0.82-0.042800.00360.57-0.06-0.18
0.78-0.052900.00410.64-0.07-0.22
0.73-0.063000.00470.71-0.07-0.27
0.68-0.073100.00520.77-0.07-0.32
0.63-0.073200.00570.81-0.08-0.38
0.57-0.073300.00600.85-0.08-0.44
0.51-0.073400.00630.86-0.08-0.51
0.45-0.073500.00630.85-0.08-0.57
0.39-0.073600.00620.83-0.07-0.64
0.33-0.073700.00600.78-0.07-0.70
0.28-0.063800.00560.72-0.06-0.76
0.23-0.053900.00510.65-0.05-0.82
0.18-0.054000.00450.58-0.04-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1352102803504205001K0
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

spot1251652102903704502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: COR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk