Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 8:26 PM ET

PR max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.84
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$22-11.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.05±20.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.28494 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$29largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3042.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$50Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$22-11.4%30d
Fri, Dec 18$25+0.6%58d
Fri, Jan 15$16-35.6%86d
Fri, Mar 19$22-11.4%149d
Fri, Apr 16$20-19.5%177d
Fri, May 21$22-11.4%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22131722263135$2M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot221317212529401401
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PR 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

spot22131721252966
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13172226313571%38%
— 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 151317212529+$14K−$14K
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
0.90-0.00180.02490.03-0.00-0.11
0.87-0.00190.03090.03-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.00200.03760.04-0.01-0.18
0.79-0.01210.04460.04-0.01-0.22
0.73-0.01220.05150.05-0.01-0.27
0.68-0.01230.05750.06-0.01-0.33
0.61-0.01240.06190.06-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01250.06450.06-0.01-0.46
0.49-0.01260.06510.06-0.01-0.52
0.43-0.01270.06400.06-0.01-0.58
0.37-0.01280.06140.06-0.01-0.64
0.32-0.01290.05790.06-0.01-0.69
0.28-0.01300.05370.05-0.01-0.73
0.13-0.00350.03190.03-0.00-0.89

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

spot5151923273110K0
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

spot3131823283312K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 16K 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: PR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk