Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 10:41 PM ET

DGXX max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.76
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$4+6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.95±78.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1445 puts / 329 calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30118.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$392per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Aug 21$5+33.0%15d
Fri, Sep 18$4+6.4%43d
Fri, Dec 18$5+33.0%134d
Fri, Jan 15$6+59.6%162d
Fri, Mar 19$4+6.4%225d
Fri, Jan 21$3-20.2%533d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4134679$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot413579198198
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DGXX 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

spot41357988
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot134679146%120%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 128.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13579+$280$280
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
0.95-0.0010.02100.00-0.00-0.04
0.87-0.0020.05600.01-0.00-0.13
0.76-0.0030.08580.01-0.00-0.23
0.66-0.0040.10020.01-0.00-0.33
0.58-0.0050.10510.01-0.00-0.42
0.52-0.0060.10530.01-0.00-0.48
0.46-0.0070.10320.01-0.00-0.54
0.42-0.0080.10010.01-0.00-0.59
0.38-0.0090.09640.01-0.00-0.63

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

spot0.5258111419K0
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

spot0.5258111425K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 100K call contracts, 46K 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: DGXX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk