Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 12:24 AM ET

MARA max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.63
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$11-19.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.89±28.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4715K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$11largest put OI
IV3081.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$267Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13
Earnings · expectedTue, Nov 3usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$12-12.0%3d
Fri, Oct 2$12.5-8.3%10d
Fri, Oct 9$12-12.0%17d
Fri, Oct 16$12-12.0%24d
Fri, Oct 23$12-12.0%31d
Fri, Oct 30$12.5-8.3%38d
Fri, Nov 20$11-19.3%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Nov 3)
Fri, Dec 18$11-19.3%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot113711141822$21M$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11371115195K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MARA open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot11371115193K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3711141822157%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1337111519+$49K$49K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0070.01190.00-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.0080.02040.01-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.0190.03240.01-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.01100.04660.01-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.01110.06080.02-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.01120.07250.02-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01130.08020.02-0.01-0.37
0.55-0.02140.08350.02-0.02-0.45
0.47-0.02150.08320.02-0.02-0.53
0.40-0.02160.07990.02-0.02-0.60
0.34-0.01170.07490.02-0.01-0.67
0.29-0.01180.06890.02-0.01-0.72
0.24-0.01190.06250.02-0.01-0.77
0.20-0.01200.05610.02-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.01210.04990.01-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.510.513.516.52158K0
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

spot1711152028135K135K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 925K call contracts, 624K 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: MARA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk