Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 12:24 AM ET

D max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.3
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$65+4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.25±10.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.182K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$72.5largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3020.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$911Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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 16$62.5+0.3%2d
Fri, Nov 20$62.5+0.3%37d
Fri, Dec 18$67.5+8.3%65d
Fri, Jan 15$62.5+0.3%93d
Fri, Mar 19$65+4.3%156d
Fri, Apr 16$62.5+0.3%184d
Thu, Jun 17$70+12.4%246d
Fri, Sep 17$57.5-7.7%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65334456677990$17M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6532.542.552.562.572.5857K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)D 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

spot6532.542.552.562.572.5851111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot33445667799052%18%
— 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

spotflip 6532.542.552.562.572.585+$789K−$789K
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
0.96—450.00740.03-0.00-0.06
0.94-0.0047.50.01060.04-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.00500.01490.06-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.0052.50.02050.08-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.01550.02770.10-0.01-0.20
0.76-0.0157.50.03650.13-0.01-0.27
0.66-0.01600.04540.14-0.01-0.37
0.54-0.0162.50.05120.16-0.01-0.49
0.41-0.01650.05080.15-0.01-0.61
0.30-0.0167.50.04490.14-0.01-0.72
0.22-0.01700.03670.12-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.0172.50.02890.10-0.00-0.86
0.12-0.01750.02250.08-0.00-0.90
0.09-0.0177.50.01760.07-0.00-0.93
0.07-0.00800.01380.06—-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.557.56572.580959K0
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

spot27.54052.56577.510011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 21K 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: D workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk