Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:34 AM ET

ESLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$735.34
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$670-8.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$145.8±19.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.63343 puts / 545 calls
Call wall$740largest call OI
Put wall$640largest put OI
IV3044.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$267Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $480

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$740+0.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$770+4.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$670-8.9%144d
Thu, Jun 17$800+8.8%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot67039056473891210861260$24M$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 — 670 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6703905206407408501020145145
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ESLT 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

spot670390520640740850102011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3905647389121086126051%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4803905206407408501020+$172K−$172K
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
0.75-0.206500.00171.49-0.21-0.26
0.73-0.216600.00171.54-0.22-0.27
0.71-0.226700.00181.59-0.23-0.29
0.69-0.226800.00191.64-0.23-0.31
0.65-0.237000.00201.72-0.24-0.35
0.61-0.247200.00211.79-0.25-0.40
0.59-0.247300.00211.81-0.25-0.42
0.57-0.247400.00221.83-0.26-0.44
0.55-0.257500.00221.85-0.26-0.47
0.53-0.257600.00221.86-0.26-0.49
0.48-0.247800.00221.86-0.26-0.53
0.44-0.248000.00221.84-0.26-0.58
0.42-0.248100.00221.82-0.25-0.60
0.40-0.248200.00221.80-0.25-0.62
0.38-0.238300.00211.78-0.25-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot340560690820100012402660
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

spot3405406708009601280266266
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: ESLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk