Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:00 AM ET

PHO max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.01
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$61-15.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.7±9.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3525 puts / 72 calls
Call wall$72largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3015.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $67

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$70-2.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$66-8.3%54d
Fri, Mar 19$61-15.3%145d
Thu, Jun 17$67-7.0%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot61505764717885$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 — 61 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6150626872792020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PHO 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

spot6150626872792323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot50576471788542%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 675062687279+$5K−$5K
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
0.82-0.01630.02140.12-0.01-0.17
0.77-0.01660.02970.14-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01670.03340.14-0.01-0.25
0.72-0.01680.03750.15-0.01-0.28
0.69-0.01690.04200.16-0.01-0.31
0.65-0.01700.04670.17-0.01-0.35
0.60-0.01710.05100.17-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01720.05420.18-0.01-0.46
0.50-0.01730.05540.18-0.01-0.51
0.44-0.01740.05430.18-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.01760.04770.17-0.01-0.66
0.27-0.01790.03660.15-0.01-0.75
0.25-0.01800.03360.14-0.01-0.77
0.18-0.01850.02290.12-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot606569737785930
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

spot4561667176819393
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 362 call contracts, 118 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: PHO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk