Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:39 PM ET

LPTH max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.29
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$10+37.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.43±47.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.49854 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3090.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$10+37.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$10+37.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$10+37.2%82d
Fri, Mar 19$10+37.2%145d
Fri, May 21$10+37.2%208d
Thu, Jun 17$5-31.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103916222935$4M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot102.57.512.517.522.530683683
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LPTH 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

spot102.57.512.517.522.5305454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot3916222935204%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 102.57.512.517.522.530+$2K−$2K
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
0.95-0.002.50.01600.00-0.00-0.04
0.82-0.0050.05870.01-0.00-0.17
0.59-0.017.50.09370.02-0.01-0.40
0.41-0.01100.08920.02-0.01-0.59
0.30-0.0112.50.07480.02-0.01-0.71
0.23-0.01150.06190.01-0.01-0.78
0.18-0.0017.50.05180.01-0.01-0.83
0.15-0.00200.04390.01-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.0022.50.03780.01-0.00-0.90
0.11-0.00250.03290.01-0.00-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.5306K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 15K 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: LPTH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk