Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:04 PM ET

CRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.21
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$350+24.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72±25.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.74486 puts / 661 calls
Call wall$420largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3052.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$41Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$340+20.9%21d
Fri, Dec 18$290+3.1%49d
Fri, Jan 15$300+6.7%77d
Fri, Mar 19$350+24.5%140d
Thu, Jun 17$310+10.2%230d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350210340470600730860$25M$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot350210300390480570720123123
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRS 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

spot3502103003904805707208484
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot21034047060073086090%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot210300390480570720+$35K−$35K
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
0.86-0.082100.00230.40-0.08-0.14
0.83-0.092200.00260.45-0.09-0.17
0.80-0.102300.00300.50-0.10-0.21
0.76-0.102400.00330.55-0.11-0.25
0.72-0.112500.00360.59-0.12-0.28
0.68-0.122600.00390.63-0.12-0.33
0.64-0.122700.00410.66-0.13-0.37
0.60-0.132800.00430.68-0.13-0.41
0.56-0.132900.00440.69-0.13-0.46
0.51-0.133000.00450.70-0.13-0.50
0.47-0.133100.00450.70-0.13-0.55
0.43-0.133200.00440.69-0.13-0.59
0.39-0.123300.00440.67-0.13-0.63
0.36-0.123400.00420.65-0.13-0.67
0.32-0.113500.00410.63-0.12-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 51 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1452503504505507206440
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

spot145220350480610760663663
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 3K 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: CRS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk