Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 10, 9:12 PM ET

MIDD max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.6
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$110+4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.7±17.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.5565 puts / 118 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3033.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$110+4.2%5d
Fri, Nov 20$110+4.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$100-5.3%68d
Fri, Mar 19$110+4.2%159d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot11075100125150175200$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11075951201501751954747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MIDD 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

spot110759512015017519511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7510012515017520056%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1407595120150175195+$5K−$5K
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
0.92-0.01750.00480.10-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01800.00640.13-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.02850.00840.16-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02900.01070.19-0.02-0.20
0.74-0.02950.01310.23-0.03-0.26
0.67-0.031000.01510.25-0.03-0.34
0.50-0.031100.01710.28-0.03-0.51
0.42-0.031150.01670.28-0.03-0.59
0.35-0.031200.01570.26-0.03-0.67
0.29-0.031250.01430.24-0.03-0.73
0.20-0.021350.01120.20-0.02-0.84
0.16-0.021400.00970.17-0.02-0.88
0.12-0.021500.00730.14-0.02-0.94
0.10-0.011550.00630.12-0.02-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100115130155195700
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

spot60851101351601858888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 307 call contracts, 126 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: MIDD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk