Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 8:18 AM ET

KOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.1
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40-7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.6±22.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.2878 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3049.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154per 1% move · flip ≈ $70
Earnings · expectedFri, Nov 6usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$45+4.4%3d
Fri, Nov 20$40-7.2%38d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Nov 6)
Fri, Dec 18$40-7.2%66d
Fri, Mar 19$40-7.2%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253545556575$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot402535455565754040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOP 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

spot4025354555657511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot253545556575103%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 70253545556575+$1K−$1K
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
0.92-0.01250.00700.04-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01300.01210.06-0.01-0.12
0.80-0.01350.01950.08-0.01-0.20
0.67-0.01400.02840.10-0.01-0.33
0.51-0.01450.03390.11-0.01-0.49
0.36-0.01500.03190.11-0.01-0.65
0.25-0.01550.02600.09-0.01-0.77
0.19-0.01600.02050.08-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.01650.01620.06-0.01-0.89
0.11-0.01700.01300.06-0.01-0.92
0.09-0.01750.01070.05-0.01-0.95

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

spot4045505560655540
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

spot2030456075570570
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 984 call contracts, 133 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: KOP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk