Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:46 AM ET

LAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.17
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$41+7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.6±22.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.61598 puts / 980 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$38largest put OI
IV3051.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Event risk before this expiration: 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$40+4.8%23d
Fri, Dec 18$42+10.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$35-8.3%79d
Fri, Mar 19$41+7.4%142d
Thu, Jun 17$25-34.5%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41202938475665$2M$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 — 41 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot41203640444860574574
■ 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

spot4120364044486055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20293847566575%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 45203640444860+$26K−$26K
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
0.99-0.00200.00600.01-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.01250.01300.04-0.01-0.10
0.81-0.01300.02190.06-0.01-0.20
0.66-0.01350.03160.09-0.01-0.35
0.63-0.01360.03310.09-0.01-0.38
0.59-0.01370.03430.09-0.01-0.41
0.56-0.01380.03520.09-0.01-0.45
0.53-0.01390.03580.09-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01400.03610.09-0.01-0.52
0.46-0.01410.03610.09-0.01-0.55
0.42-0.01420.03580.09-0.01-0.59
0.39-0.01430.03520.09-0.01-0.62
0.36-0.01440.03440.09-0.01-0.65
0.33-0.01450.03340.08-0.01-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2535394347552K0
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

spot2030354045502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 5K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk