Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:23 AM ET

MRVU max pain

Spot (delayed)$103.25
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$130+25.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$64.25±62.2% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.3822 puts / 16 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV30133.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$93per 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$145+40.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$70-32.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$150+45.3%82d
Fri, Mar 19$130+25.9%145d
Fri, Apr 16$96-7.0%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1305094138182226270$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot130508012014019088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRVU 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

spot130508012014019011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5094138182226270135%123%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 126.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5080120140190+$307−$307
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
0.90-0.06500.00220.10-0.05-0.09
0.83-0.08650.00300.16-0.07-0.16
0.80-0.08700.00320.17-0.08-0.18
0.75-0.09800.00360.20-0.09-0.22
0.73-0.10850.00380.21-0.09-0.25
0.66-0.111000.00410.23-0.10-0.31
0.58-0.111200.00440.25-0.11-0.39
0.54-0.121300.00450.26-0.11-0.43
0.52-0.121350.00450.26-0.12-0.45
0.51-0.121400.00450.26-0.12-0.46
0.47-0.121500.00450.26-0.12-0.50
0.44-0.121600.00440.26-0.12-0.53
0.36-0.111900.00420.25-0.11-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40110125160210270290
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

spot45901251652102904747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 302 call contracts, 301 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: MRVU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk