Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:45 AM ET

GPIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$56+0.5% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.85129 puts / 151 calls
Call wall$57largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3012.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $57

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$56+0.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$55-1.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$56+0.5%144d
Thu, Jun 17$55-1.3%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot56475053576063$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 — 56 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5647515457637474
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GPIX 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

spot56475154576311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot47505357606330%9%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 11.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 574751545763+$18K−$18K
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
0.87-0.01480.03800.07-0.01-0.19
0.82-0.01500.05000.09-0.01-0.24
0.78-0.01510.05730.10-0.01-0.27
0.74-0.01520.06690.11-0.01-0.32
0.69-0.01530.07800.12-0.01-0.37
0.62-0.01540.09160.13-0.01-0.44
0.53-0.01550.10390.13-0.01-0.53
0.42-0.01560.10720.13-0.01-0.63
0.32-0.01570.09710.12-0.00-0.72
0.24-0.00580.08070.11-0.00-0.79
0.16-0.00600.05330.08-0.00-0.86
0.10-0.00630.03130.06-0.00-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 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

spot5153555759634800
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

spot444852566064480480
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 856 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: GPIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk