Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:09 AM ET

EXE max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.17
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$90-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.65±16.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.83626 puts / 755 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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, Oct 30$89-4.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$89-4.5%11d
Fri, Nov 13$90-3.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$85-8.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$85-8.8%32d
Fri, Dec 18$95+2.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90-3.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$90-3.4%116d
Fri, Mar 19$90-3.4%144d
Fri, Apr 16$75-19.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90607692108124140$2M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot90608092.5100115130214214
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EXE 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

spot90608092.51001151301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60769210812414038%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 135608092.5100115130+$18K−$18K
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
0.98-0.00600.00240.03-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.01700.00670.08-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01750.01000.11-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.02800.01390.16-0.02-0.19
0.73-0.02850.01760.19-0.02-0.28
0.64-0.02900.02030.22-0.03-0.38
0.58-0.0392.50.02110.23-0.03-0.43
0.53-0.03950.02150.23-0.03-0.49
0.48-0.0397.50.02140.23-0.03-0.54
0.43-0.031000.02100.23-0.03-0.59
0.34-0.021050.01940.21-0.03-0.69
0.27-0.021100.01700.19-0.02-0.77
0.20-0.021150.01450.17-0.02-0.84
0.16-0.021200.01210.14-0.02-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot808590951001053550
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

spot4074849410514529K29K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 87K call contracts, 68K 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: EXE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk