Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:08 AM ET

LECO max pain

Spot (delayed)$255.96
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$170-33.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.95±16.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.0931 puts / 341 calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3036.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$100Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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$260+1.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$240-6.2%53d
Fri, Mar 19$170-33.6%144d
Thu, Jun 17$200-21.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot170145200255310365420$5M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1701452002503103704208888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LECO 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

spot1701452002503103704206666
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot14520025531036542056%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 170145210260320380+$42K−$42K
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
0.94-0.031750.00160.18-0.03-0.06
0.89-0.042000.00310.31-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.052100.00400.38-0.05-0.15
0.81-0.052200.00490.45-0.05-0.20
0.75-0.062300.00580.51-0.06-0.25
0.69-0.062400.00670.57-0.07-0.32
0.61-0.072500.00740.62-0.07-0.40
0.54-0.072600.00790.64-0.07-0.47
0.46-0.072700.00800.64-0.07-0.56
0.32-0.062900.00720.58-0.06-0.71
0.26-0.053000.00660.53-0.06-0.77
0.21-0.053100.00580.47-0.06-0.83
0.17-0.043200.00500.42-0.05-0.88
0.11-0.033400.00360.31-0.05-0.95
0.09-0.033500.00310.27-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1251852503103704404180
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

spot125160195260330400418418
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 526 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: LECO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk