Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:51 AM ET

LTCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.69
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$9-34.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.03±29.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.13152 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$16largest call OI
Put wall$11largest put OI
IV3054.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $11

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$13-5.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$14+2.3%54d
Fri, Mar 19$9-34.3%145d
Thu, Jun 17$20+46.1%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot981115182225$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot981115182124504504
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LTCC 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

spot98111518212411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8111518222590%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1181115182124+$7K−$7K
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
0.90-0.0180.02200.01-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.0190.02900.02-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.01100.03810.02-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.01110.04960.03-0.01-0.20
0.66-0.01130.07690.03-0.01-0.33
0.58-0.01140.08480.04-0.01-0.41
0.50-0.01150.08420.04-0.01-0.49
0.43-0.01160.07840.04-0.01-0.56
0.38-0.01170.07130.03-0.01-0.61
0.35-0.01180.06460.03-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01190.05880.03-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.01200.05380.03-0.01-0.70
0.27-0.01210.04970.03-0.01-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot811151821246560
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

spot16111621656656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 428 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: LTCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk