Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 9:25 PM ET

LBRT max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.94
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$20+18.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.08±30.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.61711 puts / 272 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3060.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 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$17+0.4%24d
Fri, Dec 18$18+6.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$15-11.5%80d
Fri, Mar 19$20+18.1%143d
Thu, Jun 17$15-11.5%233d
Fri, Jan 21$22+29.9%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2081319243035$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2081217212530251251
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LBRT 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

spot20812172125301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8131924303584%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot81217212530+$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
0.94-0.0090.01470.01-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00100.01980.01-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.00110.02580.02-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01120.03250.02-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01130.03950.03-0.01-0.19
0.76-0.01140.04630.03-0.01-0.24
0.70-0.01150.05210.04-0.01-0.30
0.58-0.01170.05950.04-0.01-0.42
0.52-0.01180.06080.04-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01190.06070.04-0.01-0.53
0.42-0.01200.05940.04-0.01-0.58
0.37-0.01210.05720.04-0.01-0.63
0.33-0.01220.05450.04-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.01230.05130.04-0.01-0.72
0.25-0.01240.04790.03-0.01-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot8162228344523K0
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

spot3101724313823K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 76K call contracts, 29K 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: LBRT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk