Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:03 AM ET

FRVO max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.05
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$15+65.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.43±48.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.282K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30101.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$12.5+38.1%29d
Fri, Dec 18$15+65.7%57d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+38.1%85d
Fri, Mar 19$15+65.7%148d
Fri, Apr 16$15+65.7%176d
Thu, Jun 17$10+10.5%238d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153916222935$7M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot152.57.512.517.5254K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FRVO 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

spot152.57.512.517.5252525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3916222935184%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 2559152030+$12K−$12K
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
0.98-0.002.50.00840.00-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.0050.03000.01-0.00-0.10
0.86-0.0060.04250.01-0.00-0.16
0.76-0.017.50.05880.02-0.01-0.26
0.66-0.0190.06820.02-0.01-0.37
0.59-0.01100.07080.02-0.01-0.43
0.46-0.0112.50.06970.02-0.01-0.57
0.36-0.01150.06350.02-0.01-0.68
0.32-0.01160.06050.02-0.01-0.72
0.28-0.0117.50.05610.02-0.01-0.76
0.23-0.01200.04890.02-0.01-0.83
0.18-0.0122.50.04250.01-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5101520355546K0
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

spot17.51420356048K48K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 104K call contracts, 31K 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: FRVO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk