Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:18 AM ET

MDGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$440.33
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$500+13.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$139.45±31.7% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.5819 puts / 33 calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$420largest put OI
IV3064.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $500

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$480+9.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$500+13.6%51d
Fri, Jan 15$420-4.6%79d
Fri, Mar 19$500+13.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$500+13.6%170d
Fri, Dec 17$510+15.8%415d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot500300364428492556620$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 — 500 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot5003004705005506001717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDGL open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot50030047050055060011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot30036442849255662063%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 500300470500550600+$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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.073000.00110.61-0.11-0.12
0.65-0.174200.00211.12-0.18-0.36
0.58-0.184500.00221.18-0.19-0.43
0.54-0.194700.00231.20-0.19-0.47
0.52-0.194800.00231.21-0.19-0.49
0.50-0.194900.00231.21-0.19-0.52
0.48-0.195000.00231.20-0.19-0.54
0.46-0.195100.00231.20-0.18-0.56
0.44-0.195200.00231.19-0.18-0.58
0.38-0.185500.00221.15-0.17-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1402803905006107601K0
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

spot1402103404706007402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 4K 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: MDGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk