Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 5:31 PM ET

IDCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.15
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$200-39.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.85±23.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.2459 puts / 243 calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$53Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

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$330-0.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$290-12.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$200-39.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$450+35.5%234d
Fri, Dec 17$320-3.7%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200130204278352426500$4M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2001301602002903504206060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IDCC 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

spot20013016020029035042011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13020427835242650086%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 250130160200290350420+$21K−$21K
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
0.83-0.082600.00240.52-0.09-0.17
0.81-0.092700.00260.57-0.10-0.20
0.77-0.102800.00290.63-0.11-0.23
0.74-0.112900.00320.68-0.11-0.26
0.70-0.113000.00340.72-0.12-0.30
0.67-0.123100.00360.76-0.13-0.34
0.63-0.133200.00380.79-0.13-0.38
0.59-0.133300.00390.81-0.13-0.42
0.55-0.133400.00400.82-0.14-0.46
0.51-0.133500.00400.83-0.14-0.50
0.47-0.133600.00400.83-0.14-0.54
0.43-0.133700.00400.82-0.13-0.57
0.40-0.133800.00390.80-0.13-0.61
0.37-0.133900.00380.78-0.13-0.65
0.33-0.124000.00370.76-0.12-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot951602403304205205170
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

spot95145195290390490531531
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: IDCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk