Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:49 AM ET

HIG max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.19
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.5±11.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.31450 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3022.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$282Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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 16$135+2.9%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130-0.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$125-4.7%65d
Fri, Mar 19$120-8.5%156d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12085103121139157175$5M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot12085115130145160175417417
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HIG 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

spot1208511513014516017533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8510312113915717544%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 10085115130145160175+$114K−$114K
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
0.97—850.00180.05-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.001000.00480.11-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.011100.00900.17-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.011150.01200.22-0.02-0.18
0.76-0.021200.01530.26-0.02-0.25
0.68-0.021250.01840.31-0.02-0.34
0.58-0.021300.02060.33-0.02-0.43
0.47-0.021350.02130.34-0.02-0.54
0.38-0.021400.02040.32-0.02-0.65
0.29-0.021450.01820.29-0.02-0.74
0.22-0.021500.01540.25-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.011550.01260.21-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.011600.01020.18-0.01-0.91
0.09-0.011650.00810.14-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901101251401551707K0
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

spot801001201401601807K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 3K 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: HIG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk