Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:47 AM ET

IRON max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.2
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$80+5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.3±24.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.5576 puts / 49 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3043.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

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$60-21.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$75-1.6%58d
Fri, Jan 15$80+5.0%86d
Fri, Mar 19$80+5.0%149d
Thu, Jun 17$35-54.1%239d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8035526986103120$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot803565801001203838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IRON 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

spot8035658010012022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35526986103120113%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot45657585100110+$4K−$4K
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
0.96-0.00350.00200.04-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01450.00410.07-0.01-0.07
0.82-0.02600.01000.13-0.02-0.18
0.76-0.02650.01260.15-0.03-0.24
0.69-0.03700.01500.17-0.03-0.32
0.60-0.03750.01680.19-0.03-0.41
0.52-0.03800.01770.19-0.03-0.49
0.44-0.03850.01760.19-0.03-0.58
0.36-0.03900.01660.18-0.03-0.66
0.25-0.021000.01360.16-0.02-0.78
0.21-0.021050.01210.14-0.02-0.82
0.18-0.021100.01060.13-0.02-0.86
0.13-0.021200.00830.10-0.01-0.92

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

spot25456075901056K0
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

spot254565851056K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K call contracts, 20K 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: IRON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk