Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:33 AM ET

MOD max pain

Spot (delayed)$133
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$160+20.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.65±38.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.10127 puts / 115 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3094.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$929per 1% move

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, Nov 20$155+16.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$145+9.0%55d
Fri, Jan 15$180+35.3%83d
Fri, Feb 19$200+50.4%118d
Fri, Mar 19$160+20.3%146d
Thu, Jun 17$155+16.5%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16085122159196233270$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot160851151501701902303939
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MOD 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

spot160851151501701902301111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8512215919623327081%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot85115150170190230+$4K−$4K
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
0.88-0.05850.00290.17-0.05-0.12
0.84-0.06950.00370.21-0.06-0.17
0.81-0.061000.00410.23-0.06-0.20
0.76-0.071100.00480.27-0.07-0.25
0.73-0.071150.00510.28-0.08-0.28
0.70-0.081200.00540.30-0.08-0.31
0.61-0.091350.00590.33-0.09-0.40
0.55-0.091450.00610.34-0.09-0.46
0.52-0.091500.00620.34-0.09-0.49
0.49-0.091550.00620.34-0.09-0.52
0.47-0.091600.00620.34-0.09-0.55
0.44-0.091650.00620.34-0.09-0.57
0.42-0.091700.00610.33-0.09-0.60
0.39-0.081750.00600.33-0.09-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001301551802102602K0
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

spot801101401702002602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 5K 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: MOD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk