Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:50 PM ET

PODD max pain

Spot (delayed)$146.96
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$135-8.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.35±22.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.281K puts / 464 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3055.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$91Kper 1% move

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$140-4.7%28d
Fri, Dec 18$150+2.1%56d
Fri, Mar 19$135-8.1%147d
Thu, Jun 17$110-25.1%237d
Fri, Dec 17$130-11.5%420d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13575110145180215250$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13575105135165195250411411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PODD 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

spot1357510513516519525033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7511014518021525077%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot75105135165195250+$71K−$71K
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
0.86-0.041100.00450.20-0.04-0.14
0.84-0.041150.00520.23-0.04-0.17
0.81-0.041200.00600.26-0.04-0.20
0.77-0.051250.00670.28-0.05-0.23
0.73-0.051300.00740.31-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.051350.00800.33-0.05-0.32
0.65-0.061400.00860.35-0.06-0.36
0.60-0.061450.00900.36-0.06-0.41
0.56-0.061500.00930.37-0.06-0.46
0.51-0.061550.00940.37-0.06-0.50
0.47-0.061600.00950.37-0.06-0.55
0.42-0.061650.00930.36-0.06-0.59
0.38-0.051700.00910.36-0.06-0.64
0.34-0.051750.00880.34-0.06-0.68
0.31-0.051800.00840.33-0.06-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751201602002803609460
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

spot65115165230330430959959
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 5K 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: PODD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk