Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 12:18 AM ET

CZR max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.7
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$26-9.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.19±7.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.527K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$31largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3013.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$15Kper 1% move

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$28-2.4%6d
Fri, Nov 6$30+4.5%13d
Fri, Nov 13$29+1.0%20d
Fri, Nov 20$30+4.5%27d
Fri, Nov 27$30+4.5%34d
Fri, Dec 4$30+4.5%41d
Fri, Dec 18$28-2.4%55d
Fri, Jan 15$28-2.4%83d
Fri, Mar 19$26-9.4%146d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot26131926323945$8M$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2613222731366K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CZR 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

spot26132227313655
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13192632394588%8%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1322273136+$259K−$259K
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
0.92-0.00200.01640.03-0.00-0.07
0.90-0.00220.02480.03-0.00-0.10
0.88-0.00230.03080.04-0.00-0.12
0.83-0.00250.04950.05-0.00-0.17
0.79-0.00260.06460.05-0.00-0.20
0.74-0.00270.08690.06-0.00-0.26
0.67-0.00280.12240.07-0.00-0.34
0.54-0.00290.18070.07-0.00-0.49
0.33-0.00300.20700.07-0.00-0.76
0.15-0.00310.13940.04—-0.99
0.11-0.00320.08860.04—-1.00
0.09-0.00330.06290.03—-1.00
0.07-0.00350.03820.03—-1.00
0.06-0.00360.03130.02—-1.00
0.03-0.00420.01350.01—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot212930313K0
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

spot31825.530354454K54K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 78K call contracts, 99K 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: CZR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk