Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:26 PM ET

O max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.93
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$57.5+1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.55±9.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.808K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$42.5largest put OI
IV3020.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$713Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $57.5

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$55-3.4%20d
Fri, Dec 18$60+5.4%48d
Fri, Jan 15$60+5.4%76d
Fri, Mar 19$57.5+1.0%139d
Thu, Jun 17$60+5.4%229d
Fri, Sep 17$55-3.4%321d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot57.5384961728495$33M$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 — 57.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot57.537.547.557.567.5803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)O 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

spot57.537.547.557.567.580211211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot38496172849548%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 57.537.547.557.567.580+$400K−$400K
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
0.99-0.00400.00340.01-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.0042.50.00710.02-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.00450.01290.04-0.00-0.07
0.91-0.0147.50.02070.06-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01500.03080.08-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.0152.50.04240.11-0.01-0.26
0.64-0.01550.05290.13-0.01-0.37
0.51-0.0157.50.05850.14-0.01-0.51
0.36-0.01600.05640.13-0.01-0.65
0.24-0.0162.50.04730.11-0.01-0.77
0.15-0.01650.03510.08-0.01-0.86
0.09-0.0067.50.02390.06-0.00-0.92
0.05-0.00700.01550.04-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.0072.50.00980.03-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00750.00620.02—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305060708511K0
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

spot27.537.547.557.567.58016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89K call contracts, 67K 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: O workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk