Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:52 PM ET

PENG max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.44
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$60+12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.95±44.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.28593 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3091.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$50Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$60+12.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$60+12.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40-25.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$60+12.3%144d
Fri, Apr 16$65+21.6%172d
Fri, May 21$50-6.4%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6023446687109130$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6022.5406080100120556556
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PENG 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

spot6022.540608010012011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot23446687109130118%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 2522.5406080100120+$21K−$21K
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
0.96-0.0122.50.00270.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01250.00350.04-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01300.00540.06-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02350.00740.08-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.03400.00930.10-0.03-0.20
0.74-0.03450.01090.11-0.03-0.27
0.67-0.04500.01220.12-0.04-0.33
0.61-0.04550.01300.13-0.04-0.40
0.55-0.04600.01340.13-0.04-0.46
0.49-0.04650.01340.14-0.04-0.52
0.44-0.04700.01320.13-0.04-0.58
0.39-0.04750.01280.13-0.04-0.63
0.35-0.04800.01230.12-0.04-0.67
0.31-0.04850.01170.12-0.04-0.71
0.28-0.03900.01100.11-0.03-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.517.540701001306K0
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

spot2.517.540701001308K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 37K 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: PENG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk