Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:40 AM ET

EMXC max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$88-4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.3±15.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.108 puts / 79 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3029.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $92

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$95+3.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$94+2.5%54d
Fri, Mar 19$88-4.0%145d
Thu, Jun 17$70-23.7%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot888596107118129140$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 — 88 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8885941001051201401212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMXC 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

spot88859410010512014011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot859610711812914047%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 928594100105120140+$2K−$2K
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
0.68-0.02850.01940.20-0.02-0.33
0.62-0.02880.02140.22-0.02-0.39
0.58-0.02900.02240.22-0.02-0.43
0.53-0.02920.02320.23-0.02-0.48
0.48-0.02940.02350.23-0.02-0.53
0.46-0.02950.02360.23-0.02-0.55
0.41-0.02970.02330.22-0.02-0.60
0.37-0.02990.02270.22-0.02-0.65
0.35-0.021000.02230.21-0.02-0.67
0.33-0.021010.02180.21-0.02-0.69
0.31-0.021020.02120.20-0.02-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot608594991041202210
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

spot45788694102120308308
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 370 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: EMXC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk