Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:30 AM ET

ELV max pain

Spot (delayed)$439.95
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$400-9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72±16.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.671K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$440largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3029.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$763Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $420

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$420-4.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$400-9.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$370-15.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$400-9.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$410-6.8%235d
Fri, Sep 17$460+4.6%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot400145244343442541640$36M$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 — 400 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot400145200290380470560288288
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ELV 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

spot40014520029038047056033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14524434344254164096%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 420165230320400480560+$195K−$195K
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
0.83-0.083700.00260.71-0.09-0.17
0.80-0.093800.00290.77-0.09-0.21
0.77-0.103900.00320.85-0.10-0.24
0.73-0.104000.00360.92-0.11-0.28
0.69-0.114100.00380.97-0.11-0.31
0.65-0.124200.00411.02-0.12-0.36
0.61-0.124300.00431.06-0.12-0.40
0.57-0.124400.00441.09-0.12-0.44
0.52-0.124500.00451.10-0.13-0.49
0.48-0.124600.00451.10-0.13-0.54
0.44-0.124700.00451.09-0.12-0.58
0.40-0.124800.00441.07-0.12-0.63
0.35-0.114900.00431.03-0.12-0.67
0.32-0.105000.00410.99-0.11-0.71
0.28-0.105100.00390.94-0.11-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1602403304205106001K0
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

spot1402003204405606802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K 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: ELV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk