Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 15, 3:49 AM ET

FSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.65
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$10-14.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4±34.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.04139 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3055.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 1% move

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$10-14.2%3d
Fri, Oct 16$12.5+7.3%31d
Fri, Nov 20$7.5-35.6%66d
Fri, Dec 18$10-14.2%94d
Fri, Jan 15$4-65.7%122d
Fri, Mar 19$10-14.2%185d
Fri, Jan 21$5-57.1%493d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105913172125$3M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot105101520252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FSM 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

spot105101520253636
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8111518222577%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot510152025+$25K$25K
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
0.95-0.0050.01320.01-0.00-0.05
0.88-0.007.50.03450.02-0.00-0.12
0.74-0.00100.06770.03-0.00-0.27
0.53-0.0112.50.08470.03-0.01-0.48
0.37-0.01150.07720.03-0.01-0.65
0.26-0.0017.50.06300.03-0.00-0.77
0.19-0.00200.05010.02-0.00-0.85
0.14-0.0022.50.03990.02-0.00-0.91
0.11-0.00250.03210.02-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.55K0
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

spot0.52.54.5102016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 65K call contracts, 14K 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: FSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk