Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:29 AM ET

FTAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$154.38
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$200+29.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.55±33.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.883K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3074.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$74Kper 1% move

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$162.5+5.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$145-6.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$175+13.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$180+16.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$170+10.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$155+0.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$195+26.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$190+23.1%81d
Fri, Feb 19$180+16.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$200+29.6%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20085152219286353420$49M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot200851301702203004002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FTAI 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

spot2008513017022030040044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8515221928635342074%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot85130170220300400+$258K−$258K
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
0.81-0.061200.00420.27-0.06-0.20
0.78-0.071250.00460.29-0.07-0.23
0.76-0.071300.00490.31-0.07-0.26
0.72-0.071350.00520.33-0.08-0.29
0.70-0.081400.00550.35-0.08-0.32
0.67-0.081450.00570.36-0.08-0.35
0.64-0.081500.00590.37-0.09-0.38
0.60-0.091550.00610.38-0.09-0.41
0.57-0.091600.00620.39-0.09-0.44
0.55-0.091650.00620.39-0.09-0.47
0.52-0.091700.00630.39-0.09-0.50
0.49-0.091750.00630.39-0.09-0.53
0.46-0.091800.00630.39-0.09-0.56
0.43-0.091850.00620.39-0.09-0.59
0.41-0.091900.00610.38-0.09-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1401601751902152508510
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

spot651301702203104104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 17K 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: FTAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk