Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:45 AM ET

LOPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$162.83
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$145-11.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.25±17.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3034 puts / 114 calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3039.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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$150-7.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$160-1.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$145-11.0%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14585114143172201230$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot145851251501651853737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOPE 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

spot1458512515016518511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8511414317220123053%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 11085125150165185+$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
0.95-0.011100.00220.10-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.021250.00440.18-0.02-0.10
0.84-0.031350.00640.26-0.03-0.16
0.76-0.041450.00840.32-0.04-0.25
0.71-0.041500.00930.35-0.04-0.29
0.66-0.041550.01020.38-0.05-0.35
0.61-0.051600.01080.40-0.05-0.40
0.55-0.051650.01130.41-0.05-0.46
0.50-0.051700.01150.41-0.05-0.52
0.44-0.051750.01150.41-0.05-0.58
0.34-0.041850.01080.38-0.05-0.70
0.06-0.012300.00370.13—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851251451651851080
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

spot75105135165195250108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 560 call contracts, 293 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: LOPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk