Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 2:20 AM ET

ERO max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.12
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35+12.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.55±27.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.591K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
IV3061.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$30-3.6%21d
Fri, Dec 18$35+12.5%49d
Fri, Jan 15$30-3.6%77d
Fri, Mar 19$35+12.5%140d
Fri, Apr 16$40+28.5%168d
Thu, Jun 17$30-3.6%230d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35132130384755$3M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3512.52531364148446446
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ERO 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

spot3512.5253136414811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13213038475584%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 22.512.52531364148+$11K−$11K
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
0.92-0.00200.01280.03-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.0122.50.01860.04-0.01-0.14
0.80-0.01250.02480.06-0.01-0.20
0.77-0.01260.02720.06-0.01-0.24
0.74-0.01270.02930.06-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01280.03120.07-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.01300.03430.07-0.01-0.38
0.60-0.01310.03530.07-0.01-0.41
0.56-0.01320.03600.08-0.01-0.45
0.53-0.01330.03640.08-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01340.03650.08-0.01-0.52
0.46-0.01350.03630.08-0.01-0.55
0.43-0.01360.03590.08-0.01-0.59
0.40-0.01370.03530.07-0.01-0.62
0.37-0.01380.03450.07-0.01-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.5253035404518K0
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

spot12.522.52935414719K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 68K call contracts, 16K 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: ERO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk