Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:11 PM ET

DDOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$282.2
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$230-18.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$91.83±32.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1710K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3079.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$562Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$265-6.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$270-4.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$290+2.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$240-15.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$260-7.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$270-4.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$170-39.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$175-38.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$230-18.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$260-7.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23055128201274347420$127M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot230551001451902703601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DDOG 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

spot230551001451902703601818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot55128201274347420157%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7565110155200290380+$206K−$206K
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
0.82-0.102100.00210.46-0.11-0.17
0.80-0.112200.00230.50-0.12-0.20
0.77-0.122300.00250.54-0.13-0.23
0.73-0.132400.00270.58-0.13-0.27
0.70-0.142500.00290.61-0.14-0.30
0.67-0.142600.00310.64-0.15-0.33
0.64-0.152700.00320.66-0.15-0.36
0.60-0.152800.00330.68-0.16-0.40
0.57-0.152900.00330.69-0.16-0.43
0.54-0.163000.00340.70-0.16-0.47
0.51-0.163100.00340.71-0.16-0.50
0.48-0.163200.00340.70-0.16-0.53
0.45-0.163300.00340.70-0.16-0.56
0.42-0.153400.00330.69-0.16-0.59
0.39-0.153500.00330.68-0.15-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150220257.5280302.53308730
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

spot5511516523027535011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 106K call contracts, 101K 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: DDOG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk