Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:13 PM ET

LASR max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.35
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40+10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.95±38.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.871K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3095.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$429per 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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 30$38+4.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$41+12.8%11d
Fri, Nov 13$47+29.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$39+7.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$41+12.8%32d
Fri, Dec 18$40+10.0%53d
Fri, Mar 19$40+10.0%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot402039587796115$7M$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

spot402035557595115469469
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LASR 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

spot40203555759511555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot203958779611598%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 952035557595115+$11K−$11K
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
0.91-0.01200.00790.04-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.0122.50.01030.05-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.02250.01280.06-0.02-0.16
0.73-0.02300.01730.07-0.02-0.26
0.63-0.02350.02020.09-0.02-0.36
0.53-0.03400.02140.09-0.03-0.47
0.44-0.02450.02120.09-0.03-0.56
0.36-0.02500.02000.09-0.02-0.64
0.30-0.02550.01830.08-0.02-0.71
0.24-0.02600.01650.07-0.02-0.76
0.20-0.02650.01470.06-0.02-0.81
0.17-0.02700.01300.06-0.02-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot33384246503910
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

spot17.5283644559510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 13K 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: LASR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk