Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:53 PM ET

PHM max pain

Spot (delayed)$121.19
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$120-1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.05±17.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI4.371K puts / 303 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3035.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$166Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$112-7.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$115-5.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$118-2.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$114-5.9%25d
Fri, Nov 27$115-5.1%32d
Fri, Dec 18$120-1.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$120-1.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$120-1.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$120-1.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206090120150180210$6M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1206085105125145165913913
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PHM 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

spot120608510512514516566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot609012015018021057%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 856085105125145165+$142K−$142K
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
0.93-0.01850.00390.10-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.02900.00520.13-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.02950.00680.16-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.021000.00860.19-0.03-0.17
0.78-0.031050.01040.23-0.03-0.22
0.72-0.031100.01210.26-0.03-0.28
0.66-0.031150.01360.28-0.03-0.35
0.58-0.041200.01470.30-0.04-0.42
0.51-0.041250.01530.30-0.04-0.50
0.43-0.031300.01530.30-0.04-0.58
0.36-0.031350.01480.29-0.03-0.65
0.30-0.031400.01380.27-0.03-0.72
0.24-0.031450.01240.24-0.03-0.78
0.19-0.021500.01090.21-0.03-0.84
0.15-0.021550.00940.18-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801111161221271339080
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

spot50931061191321501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 9K 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: PHM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk