Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 4, 8:56 PM ET

FTXL max pain

Spot (delayed)$265.47
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$150-43.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$61.5±23.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.015 puts / 580 calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3038.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$202Kper 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, Nov 20$285+7.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$180-32.2%54d
Fri, Mar 19$150-43.5%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot150150183216249282315$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot150150205225250315314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FTXL 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

spot15015020522525031511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15018321624928231558%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot150205225250315+$115K−$115K
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
0.84-0.062050.00280.44-0.06-0.16
0.82-0.062100.00310.47-0.07-0.18
0.79-0.072200.00350.52-0.07-0.22
0.77-0.072250.00370.55-0.08-0.24
0.74-0.082300.00390.58-0.08-0.26
0.70-0.082400.00430.62-0.09-0.31
0.65-0.092500.00470.66-0.09-0.36
0.55-0.092700.00510.71-0.09-0.46
0.50-0.092800.00520.71-0.09-0.51
0.33-0.083150.00500.65-0.08-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1401982352652953753320
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

spot150200230260295375332332
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 76 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: FTXL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk