Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 9:22 AM ET

FTK max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.9
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$25+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.2±38.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.27247 puts / 910 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3086.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$29+21.3%27d
Fri, Dec 18$22-7.9%55d
Fri, Mar 19$25+4.6%146d
Thu, Jun 17$25+4.6%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152331394755$2M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot25152228364248512512
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FTK 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

spot2515222836424811
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot152331394755111%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 30152329374349+$7K−$7K
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
0.84-0.01160.01780.04-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01180.02220.04-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01190.02420.05-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01200.02610.05-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01210.02780.05-0.01-0.30
0.67-0.01220.02930.06-0.01-0.33
0.63-0.01230.03060.06-0.02-0.36
0.60-0.02240.03160.06-0.02-0.40
0.57-0.02250.03230.06-0.02-0.43
0.54-0.02260.03290.06-0.02-0.46
0.51-0.02270.03310.06-0.02-0.49
0.48-0.02280.03320.06-0.02-0.52
0.45-0.02290.03310.06-0.02-0.55
0.42-0.02300.03280.06-0.02-0.58
0.37-0.01320.03180.06-0.02-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1122293643505150
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

spot51523313947515515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 649 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: FTK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk