Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:54 PM ET

DPZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$309.6
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$330+6.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$52.4±16.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.571K puts / 811 calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3033.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$223Kper 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, Nov 20$310+0.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$320+3.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$330+6.6%80d
Fri, Mar 19$330+6.6%143d
Thu, Jun 17$320+3.4%233d
Fri, Sep 17$300-3.1%325d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330145240335430525620$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot330145185250330410500237237
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DPZ 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

spot33014518525033041050011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14524033543052562075%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot145185250330410500+$123K−$123K
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
0.89-0.042400.00250.35-0.05-0.12
0.86-0.052500.00310.43-0.06-0.15
0.82-0.062600.00360.50-0.07-0.19
0.78-0.072700.00420.57-0.07-0.23
0.73-0.072800.00480.64-0.08-0.28
0.68-0.082900.00530.68-0.08-0.33
0.63-0.093000.00580.72-0.09-0.39
0.56-0.093100.00610.75-0.09-0.45
0.51-0.093200.00620.76-0.09-0.51
0.45-0.093300.00620.76-0.09-0.57
0.39-0.083400.00600.73-0.08-0.63
0.34-0.083500.00580.70-0.08-0.69
0.29-0.073600.00540.66-0.07-0.74
0.24-0.073700.00500.60-0.07-0.78
0.20-0.063800.00450.54-0.06-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1802603504405306401K0
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

spot1451952903904905902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 13K 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: DPZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk