Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 3:15 AM ET

FICO max pain

Spot (delayed)$985.47
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$1,060+7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$301.05±30.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.02375 puts / 369 calls
Call wall$1,020largest call OI
Put wall$640largest put OI
Net GEX+$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1,160

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$1,000+1.5%5d
Fri, Oct 16$1,100+11.6%33d
Fri, Nov 20$1,020+3.5%68d
Fri, Dec 18$1,120+13.7%96d
Fri, Jan 15$1,220+23.8%124d
Fri, Mar 19$1,060+7.6%187d
Fri, Apr 16$940-4.6%215d
Thu, Jun 17$1,100+11.6%277d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot10604607881116144417722100$32M$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 — 1060 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10604607009401140136017005050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FICO 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

spot106046070094011401360170022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot460788111614441772210068%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1160460700940114013601700+$34K$34K
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
0.75-0.338400.00082.28-0.34-0.26
0.73-0.348600.00082.36-0.35-0.28
0.71-0.358800.00092.44-0.36-0.30
0.69-0.359000.00092.51-0.37-0.32
0.67-0.369200.00092.58-0.38-0.34
0.65-0.379400.00102.63-0.39-0.36
0.63-0.389600.00102.69-0.39-0.38
0.61-0.389800.00102.73-0.40-0.40
0.59-0.3910000.00102.77-0.40-0.42
0.57-0.3910200.00102.79-0.41-0.44
0.55-0.3910400.00102.81-0.41-0.47
0.53-0.3910600.00112.83-0.41-0.49
0.51-0.3910800.00112.84-0.41-0.51
0.49-0.3911000.00112.83-0.41-0.53
0.47-0.3911200.00112.83-0.41-0.55

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot46086010601230146020405640
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

spot460780940114013201990658658
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 9K 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: FICO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk