Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 11:37 PM ET

FULT max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.99
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20-9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.47±15.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.6513 puts / 20 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3033.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$646per 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 20usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$22.5+2.3%4d
Fri, Nov 20$22.5+2.3%39d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 20)
Fri, Dec 18$20-9.1%67d
Fri, Mar 19$20-9.1%158d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20131722263135$1M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2012.52022.52530351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FULT 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

spot2012.52022.525303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13172226313549%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 22.512.52022.5253035+$330−$330
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
0.95-0.0012.50.01180.01-0.00-0.05
0.74-0.00200.07930.05-0.00-0.26
0.50-0.0122.50.10650.06-0.01-0.50
0.28-0.00250.08520.05-0.00-0.72
0.10-0.00300.03590.03-0.00-0.91
0.04-0.00350.01580.01—-0.97

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

spot12.517.522.5301670
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

spot12.517.522.530175175
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 326 call contracts, 45 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: FULT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk