Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:40 AM ET

DLTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$124.92
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$130+4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.65±20.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.442K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3040.5%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$121-3.1%3d
Fri, Nov 6$115-7.9%10d
Fri, Nov 13$128+2.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$115-7.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$111-11.1%31d
Fri, Dec 4$118-5.5%38d
Fri, Dec 18$120-3.9%52d
Fri, Jan 15$100-19.9%80d
Fri, Feb 19$125+0.1%115d
Fri, Mar 19$130+4.1%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1305080110140170200$10M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1305075100125150175248248
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DLTR 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

spot130507510012515017544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot508011014017020072%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5075100125150175+$24K−$24K
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
0.92-0.01900.00440.12-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02950.00570.15-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.021000.00700.19-0.03-0.15
0.80-0.031050.00830.22-0.03-0.20
0.75-0.031100.00960.25-0.04-0.25
0.70-0.041150.01060.27-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.041200.01150.29-0.04-0.37
0.58-0.041250.01210.31-0.04-0.43
0.52-0.041300.01240.31-0.04-0.49
0.46-0.041350.01250.31-0.04-0.56
0.40-0.041400.01220.30-0.04-0.62
0.35-0.041450.01170.29-0.04-0.68
0.30-0.041500.01100.27-0.04-0.73
0.26-0.031550.01020.25-0.04-0.78
0.21-0.031600.00930.23-0.03-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651031121211301402580
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

spot351001131261391558K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41K call contracts, 29K 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: DLTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk