Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 10, 11:23 PM ET

CXT max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.45
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$45-10.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.35±20.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.0118 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$100Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$50-0.9%4d
Fri, Nov 20$45-10.8%39d
Fri, Dec 18$40-20.7%67d
Fri, Mar 19$45-10.8%158d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45354351596775$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4535455565752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CXT 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

spot45354555657511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35435159677555%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 503545556575+$92K−$92K
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
0.89-0.01350.01180.06-0.01-0.12
0.81-0.01400.01770.09-0.01-0.19
0.70-0.02450.02420.11-0.01-0.30
0.56-0.02500.02940.13-0.02-0.43
0.41-0.01550.03040.13-0.01-0.58
0.28-0.01600.02670.11-0.01-0.71
0.18-0.01650.02090.09-0.01-0.81
0.12-0.01700.01540.07-0.01-0.87
0.08-0.01750.01120.05-0.01-0.92

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

spot22.5354555656890
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

spot20304560752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 172 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: CXT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk