Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:01 AM ET

EGP max pain

Spot (delayed)$199.02
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$210+5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.8±9.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI11.06763 puts / 69 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$175largest put OI
IV3019.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$234Kper 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$210+5.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$200+0.5%55d
Fri, Mar 19$210+5.5%146d
Thu, Jun 17$175-12.1%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210155172189206223240$2M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot210155165185200220240727727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EGP 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

spot21015516518520022024011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15517218920622324028%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot155165185200220240+$244K−$244K
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
0.93-0.021550.00380.17-0.02-0.08
0.91-0.021600.00470.20-0.02-0.09
0.89-0.021650.00570.23-0.02-0.11
0.83-0.031750.00840.31-0.03-0.17
0.74-0.031850.01190.40-0.03-0.26
0.61-0.031950.01550.48-0.03-0.40
0.53-0.032000.01660.50-0.03-0.49
0.37-0.032100.01610.47-0.03-0.66
0.25-0.032200.01290.40-0.03-0.79
0.17-0.022300.00960.32-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.022400.00700.26-0.02-0.91

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

spot1651852002202401300
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

spot115140165190230280732732
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 338 call contracts, 801 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: EGP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk