Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 3:06 AM ET

LAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.1
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$39-5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.95±24.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.4495 puts / 215 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3043.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $36

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 18$45+9.5%6d
Fri, Oct 16$43+4.6%34d
Fri, Nov 20$45+9.5%69d
Fri, Dec 18$44+7.1%97d
Fri, Mar 19$39-5.1%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot39253341495765$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot392536394348558686
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAZ 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

spot392536394348555050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot25334149576569%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 36253639434855+$5K$5K
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
0.88-0.01300.01530.06-0.01-0.14
0.77-0.01350.02460.09-0.01-0.25
0.74-0.01360.02640.10-0.01-0.28
0.71-0.01370.02810.10-0.01-0.31
0.68-0.01380.02960.10-0.01-0.34
0.65-0.01390.03090.11-0.01-0.37
0.62-0.01400.03210.11-0.01-0.40
0.59-0.01410.03300.11-0.01-0.43
0.52-0.01430.03400.12-0.01-0.50
0.46-0.01450.03400.12-0.01-0.57
0.40-0.01470.03320.11-0.01-0.63
0.37-0.01480.03240.11-0.01-0.66
0.34-0.01490.03160.11-0.01-0.69
0.32-0.01500.03060.10-0.01-0.71
0.22-0.01550.02470.09-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35475065802K0
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

spot2037424760852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: LAZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk