Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:20 PM ET

PACS max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.64
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$22.5-52.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.2±31.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.4239 puts / 92 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3072.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$762per 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$45-5.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$45-5.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15-68.5%81d
Fri, Mar 19$22.5-52.8%144d
Thu, Jun 17$40-16.0%234d
Fri, Jan 21$17.5-63.3%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5233242516170$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot22.522.530405060703939
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PACS 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

spot22.522.5304050607011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot23324251617076%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4022.530455565+$756−$756
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
0.96-0.0122.50.00340.03-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.01250.00470.03-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01300.00810.05-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.02350.01260.07-0.02-0.16
0.75-0.02400.01700.10-0.02-0.25
0.65-0.02450.02010.11-0.02-0.36
0.54-0.03500.02130.12-0.03-0.46
0.45-0.03550.02090.12-0.03-0.56
0.37-0.02600.01960.11-0.03-0.64
0.30-0.02650.01780.10-0.02-0.71
0.25-0.02700.01590.10-0.02-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.512.522.5406014K0
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

spot2.512.522.5406014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 6K 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: PACS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk