Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:03 PM ET

FDS max pain

Spot (delayed)$331.32
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$310-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$72.9±22.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.99463 puts / 470 calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3043.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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$290-12.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$270-18.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.4%83d
Fri, Feb 19$300-9.5%118d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.4%146d
Thu, Jun 17$220-33.6%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310130194258322386450$8M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot310130190260310360430310310
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FDS 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

spot31013019026031036043044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13019425832238645091%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 270130190260310360430+$137K−$137K
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
0.84-0.082600.00240.51-0.08-0.16
0.81-0.092700.00280.56-0.09-0.19
0.78-0.102800.00310.62-0.10-0.22
0.74-0.102900.00340.67-0.10-0.26
0.71-0.113000.00370.72-0.11-0.30
0.67-0.113100.00400.76-0.12-0.34
0.62-0.123200.00420.79-0.12-0.38
0.58-0.123300.00430.82-0.12-0.43
0.54-0.123400.00440.83-0.12-0.47
0.49-0.123500.00450.83-0.13-0.52
0.45-0.123600.00450.83-0.12-0.56
0.41-0.123700.00440.81-0.12-0.60
0.37-0.113800.00430.79-0.12-0.64
0.34-0.113900.00410.76-0.12-0.68
0.30-0.104000.00390.73-0.11-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051902403003604204450
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 7K 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: FDS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk