Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:33 AM ET

EBAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$121
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$100-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.13±17.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.222K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$87.5largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$90Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$116-4.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$113-6.6%11d
Fri, Nov 13$116-4.1%18d
Fri, Nov 20$110-9.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$118-2.5%32d
Fri, Dec 18$105-13.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90-25.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$100-17.4%144d
Fri, Apr 16$95-21.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100487399124150175$11M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10047.57592.5115145175512512
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EBAY 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

spot10047.57592.511514517555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot48739912415017586%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7047.57590105130155+$97K−$97K
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
0.90-0.0292.50.00590.14-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.02950.00670.15-0.02-0.12
0.86-0.0297.50.00760.17-0.02-0.14
0.84-0.021000.00850.19-0.02-0.16
0.79-0.031050.01040.22-0.03-0.21
0.73-0.031100.01210.25-0.03-0.28
0.66-0.031150.01370.28-0.03-0.34
0.59-0.041200.01480.30-0.04-0.42
0.51-0.041250.01540.30-0.04-0.50
0.44-0.031300.01550.30-0.04-0.58
0.37-0.031350.01500.29-0.03-0.65
0.30-0.031400.01400.27-0.03-0.72
0.24-0.031450.01260.24-0.03-0.79
0.19-0.021500.01110.21-0.03-0.84
0.15-0.021550.00950.18-0.02-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601051131211291374940
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

spot37.5658510311714513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 47K call contracts, 40K 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: EBAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk