Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:06 PM ET

ICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$163.04
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$165+1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.4±13.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.242K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3028.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$41Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

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 23$157.5-3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$160-1.9%7d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.9%21d
Fri, Nov 20$160-1.9%28d
Fri, Nov 27$150-8.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$145-11.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$155-4.9%84d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16580112144176208240$11M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot16580105130155180210446446
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICE 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

spot1658010513015518021011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8011214417620824069%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 19080105130155180210+$125K−$125K
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
0.91-0.021300.00510.17-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.021350.00650.20-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.021400.00800.24-0.03-0.16
0.80-0.031450.00970.29-0.03-0.21
0.75-0.031500.01140.33-0.03-0.26
0.69-0.031550.01300.37-0.03-0.33
0.62-0.041600.01420.39-0.04-0.40
0.55-0.041650.01490.41-0.04-0.47
0.47-0.041700.01500.41-0.04-0.55
0.40-0.041750.01460.40-0.04-0.63
0.34-0.031800.01380.38-0.04-0.70
0.28-0.031850.01260.35-0.03-0.76
0.23-0.031900.01130.32-0.03-0.81
0.19-0.031950.00990.28-0.03-0.86
0.16-0.022000.00860.25-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot120141149160172.51901K0
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

spot70120141152.5177.52105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 16K 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: ICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk