Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 12:15 AM ET

LTM max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.84
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35-20.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.55±21.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.2851 puts / 180 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3046.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$55+25.5%22d
Fri, Dec 18$50+14.1%50d
Fri, Mar 19$35-20.2%141d
Thu, Jun 17$35-20.2%231d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35304050607080$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot353040506070804242
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LTM 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

spot3530405060708011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30384654627060%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot304050607080+$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
0.91-0.00300.01140.04-0.01-0.09
0.82-0.01350.01980.07-0.01-0.18
0.69-0.01400.02910.10-0.01-0.31
0.53-0.01450.03440.11-0.02-0.48
0.37-0.01500.03290.10-0.01-0.65
0.25-0.01550.02720.09-0.01-0.78
0.17-0.01600.02090.07-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.01650.01570.05-0.00-0.93
0.08-0.01700.01180.04—-0.96
0.06-0.01750.00900.03—-0.98
0.05-0.01800.00690.03—-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3040506070801K0
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

spot2535455565751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: LTM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk