Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:48 AM ET

CSCO max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$105-5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.48±19.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1257K puts / 51K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3046.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$923Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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$108-2.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$108-2.3%10d
Fri, Nov 13$110-0.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$110-0.5%24d
Fri, Nov 27$109-1.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$95-14.0%38d
Fri, Dec 18$100-9.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$95-14.0%80d
Fri, Mar 19$105-5.0%143d
Fri, Apr 16$110-0.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1054070100130160190$290M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1054065851051401759K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSCO 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

spot105406585105140175130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot407010013016019089%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 145406585105140175+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.86-0.0287.50.00780.16-0.02-0.14
0.83-0.02900.00880.17-0.03-0.17
0.81-0.0292.50.00970.19-0.03-0.20
0.78-0.03950.01060.21-0.03-0.22
0.75-0.0397.50.01140.22-0.03-0.26
0.72-0.031000.01220.23-0.03-0.29
0.65-0.031050.01360.26-0.04-0.36
0.58-0.041100.01450.27-0.04-0.43
0.50-0.041150.01490.28-0.04-0.51
0.43-0.041200.01480.27-0.04-0.58
0.37-0.031250.01430.26-0.03-0.65
0.31-0.031300.01340.24-0.03-0.71
0.25-0.031350.01220.22-0.03-0.77
0.21-0.031400.01090.20-0.03-0.82
0.17-0.021450.00950.17-0.02-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70991071151231312K0
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

spot37.562.582.510112516541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 425K call contracts, 382K 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: CSCO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk