Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:43 PM ET

CORN max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.26
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$17-6.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.15±11.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.184 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3017.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$841per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$17-6.9%5d
Fri, Sep 18$18-1.4%33d
Fri, Nov 20$17-6.9%96d
Fri, Feb 19$16-12.4%187d
Fri, Mar 19$17-6.9%215d
Fri, Dec 17$22+20.5%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17171920222325$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot171719212588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CORN 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

spot17171921255555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot17192022232550%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot17192125+$391$391
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
0.75-0.00170.11350.04-0.00-0.26
0.62-0.00180.14640.05-0.00-0.40
0.47-0.00190.15060.06-0.00-0.56
0.35-0.00200.12980.05-0.00-0.69
0.27-0.00210.10550.05-0.00-0.79
0.21-0.00220.08500.04-0.00-0.86
0.12-0.00250.04730.03-0.00-0.96

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

spot7111519232751K0
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

spot7111519232751K51K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 276K 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: CORN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk