Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 6:25 AM ET

PANW max pain

Spot (delayed)$382
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$340-11.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$119.43±31.3% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.60481 puts / 301 calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3063.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $530

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 30$372.5-2.5%6d
Fri, Nov 6$375-1.8%13d
Fri, Nov 13$370-3.1%20d
Fri, Nov 20$350-8.4%27d
Fri, Nov 27$405+6.0%34d
Fri, Dec 4$355-7.1%41d
Fri, Dec 18$260-31.9%55d
Fri, Jan 15$250-34.6%83d
Fri, Mar 19$310-18.8%146d
Fri, Apr 16$340-11.0%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340150272394516638760$10M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot340150240310380460580251251
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PANW open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot3401502403103804605807979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot15027239451663876069%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 530150240310380460580+$47K−$47K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.133100.00190.79-0.13-0.23
0.75-0.133200.00200.83-0.14-0.25
0.73-0.143300.00220.87-0.15-0.28
0.70-0.153400.00220.91-0.15-0.30
0.68-0.153500.00230.94-0.16-0.33
0.65-0.163600.00240.97-0.16-0.35
0.63-0.163700.00251.00-0.17-0.38
0.60-0.163800.00251.02-0.17-0.41
0.57-0.173900.00261.03-0.17-0.43
0.55-0.174000.00261.04-0.17-0.46
0.50-0.174200.00261.05-0.17-0.51
0.48-0.174300.00261.05-0.17-0.53
0.45-0.174400.00261.04-0.17-0.56
0.43-0.174500.00261.03-0.17-0.58
0.41-0.164600.00261.02-0.17-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1603053553854355104K0
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

spot514522030038052018K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 291K call contracts, 292K 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: PANW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk