Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:44 PM ET

PPC max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.13
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$27-4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.73±20.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.2231 puts / 139 calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
IV3039.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$28-0.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$30+6.6%53d
Fri, Mar 19$27-4.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$25-11.1%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27152025303540$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot271523262933365252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PPC 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

spot2715232629333611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20242832364053%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 20152326293336+$2K−$2K
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
0.89-0.01200.01950.04-0.01-0.12
0.87-0.01210.02290.04-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.01230.03100.05-0.01-0.20
0.78-0.01240.03560.05-0.01-0.23
0.74-0.01250.04030.06-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.01260.04490.06-0.01-0.32
0.65-0.01270.04900.07-0.01-0.37
0.60-0.01280.05220.07-0.01-0.42
0.54-0.01290.05430.07-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01300.05510.07-0.01-0.53
0.39-0.01320.05310.07-0.01-0.64
0.35-0.01330.05070.07-0.01-0.69
0.31-0.01340.04780.06-0.01-0.73
0.28-0.01350.04470.06-0.01-0.77
0.25-0.01360.04150.06-0.01-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1523273135392K0
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

spot1523283338432K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 3K 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: PPC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk