Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:13 AM ET

MAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$390.78
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$310-20.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.75±8.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.653K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$410largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3030.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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, Oct 30$390-0.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$375-4.0%11d
Fri, Nov 13$370-5.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$380-2.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$400+2.4%32d
Fri, Dec 18$310-20.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$340-13.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$340-13.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$330-15.6%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310105204303402501600$124M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3101051552103104105201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MAR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot3101051552103104105201313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot110208306404502600107%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 150105150200290380470+$1.4M−$1.4M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.073200.00240.21-0.07-0.07
0.91-0.083300.00310.25-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.093400.00400.31-0.09-0.12
0.84-0.103500.00510.37-0.10-0.16
0.79-0.123600.00630.45-0.12-0.21
0.72-0.133700.00760.52-0.14-0.29
0.64-0.153800.00860.57-0.15-0.37
0.55-0.153900.00930.61-0.15-0.46
0.45-0.154000.00940.61-0.15-0.56
0.36-0.144100.00900.57-0.14-0.65
0.28-0.134200.00810.52-0.13-0.73
0.21-0.114300.00700.45-0.11-0.80
0.16-0.094400.00580.38-0.10-0.86
0.12-0.074500.00460.31-0.09-0.91
0.09-0.064600.00370.25-0.08-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot205340370387.54054255070
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

spot1502303103754104803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 20K 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: MAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk