Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 9:28 AM ET

NOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$148.2
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$115-22.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.53±27.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.2538K puts / 30K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3062.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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, Oct 23$142-4.2%2d
Fri, Oct 30$139-6.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$140-5.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$140-5.5%23d
Fri, Nov 20$130-12.3%30d
Fri, Nov 27$140-5.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$124-16.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$125-15.7%86d
Fri, Feb 19$135-8.9%121d
Fri, Mar 19$115-22.4%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1154578111144177210$217M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11545751051351651957K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOW 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

spot1154575105135165195108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot457811114417721084%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1504575105135165195+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.84-0.031150.00470.24-0.04-0.17
0.81-0.041200.00520.27-0.05-0.20
0.77-0.041250.00580.29-0.05-0.23
0.74-0.051300.00630.31-0.06-0.27
0.70-0.051350.00670.33-0.06-0.30
0.66-0.061400.00710.35-0.06-0.34
0.63-0.061450.00740.36-0.06-0.38
0.59-0.061500.00760.37-0.06-0.42
0.55-0.061550.00770.38-0.06-0.46
0.51-0.061600.00780.38-0.06-0.50
0.48-0.061650.00780.38-0.06-0.54
0.44-0.061700.00770.38-0.06-0.57
0.41-0.061750.00760.37-0.06-0.61
0.38-0.061800.00750.36-0.06-0.64
0.35-0.061850.00720.35-0.06-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701151271381491806K0
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

spot459212014417224446K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 569K call contracts, 504K 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: NOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk