Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:13 PM ET

DASH max pain

Spot (delayed)$176.88
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$175-1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.45±25.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.714K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$497Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$185+4.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$190+7.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$200+13.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$180+1.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$185+4.6%32d
Fri, Dec 4$170-3.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$175-1.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$195+10.2%81d
Fri, Feb 19$190+7.4%116d
Fri, Mar 19$175-1.1%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17575128181234287340$81M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot175751101451802303002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DASH 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

spot175751101451802303006060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7512818123428734068%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 8575110145180230300+$425K−$425K
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
0.82-0.051400.00440.29-0.06-0.18
0.79-0.061450.00480.32-0.06-0.21
0.76-0.061500.00520.34-0.06-0.24
0.73-0.061550.00560.37-0.07-0.27
0.70-0.071600.00590.39-0.07-0.30
0.67-0.071650.00620.40-0.07-0.34
0.64-0.071700.00650.42-0.08-0.37
0.60-0.071750.00670.43-0.08-0.41
0.57-0.081800.00680.44-0.08-0.44
0.53-0.081850.00700.44-0.08-0.48
0.50-0.081900.00700.44-0.08-0.51
0.47-0.081950.00700.44-0.08-0.55
0.44-0.072000.00700.44-0.08-0.58
0.38-0.072100.00670.42-0.07-0.64
0.32-0.072200.00640.40-0.07-0.70

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

spot110162.5182.5202.52252655540
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

spot7013017021029037020K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 101K call contracts, 65K 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: DASH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk