Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:24 AM ET

ELIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.29
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$26-21.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.85±35.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.7777 puts / 100 calls
Call wall$39largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3078.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$900per 1% move · flip ≈ $33

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$23-30.9%26d
Fri, Dec 18$21-36.9%54d
Fri, Mar 19$26-21.9%145d
Thu, Jun 17$21-36.9%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot26192327313539$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot261922252831363535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ELIL 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

spot2619222528313611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot19232731353982%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 33192225283136+$731−$731
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
0.77-0.02260.01920.06-0.02-0.22
0.75-0.02270.02040.07-0.02-0.25
0.72-0.02280.02160.07-0.02-0.27
0.70-0.02290.02260.07-0.02-0.30
0.67-0.02300.02340.07-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.02310.02420.08-0.02-0.35
0.62-0.02320.02480.08-0.02-0.38
0.59-0.02330.02520.08-0.02-0.40
0.52-0.02360.02590.08-0.02-0.48
0.48-0.02380.02580.08-0.02-0.52
0.45-0.02390.02560.08-0.02-0.55

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1521263136452120
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

spot91521273339212212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 912 call contracts, 575 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: ELIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk