Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 12:20 AM ET

PSN max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.82
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$45+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.9±26.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.09430 puts / 393 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3040.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$782per 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$45+0.4%25d
Fri, Nov 20$60+33.9%60d
Fri, Dec 18$40-10.8%88d
Fri, Mar 19$45+0.4%179d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45203244566880$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot452035506580216216
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PSN 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

spot45203550658011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot20324456688079%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 252035506580+$11K$11K
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
0.98-0.00200.00270.02-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.01250.00550.03-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01300.00980.06-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.01350.01580.08-0.01-0.17
0.73-0.01400.02220.11-0.01-0.28
0.60-0.01450.02700.12-0.02-0.42
0.47-0.01500.02810.13-0.02-0.56
0.36-0.01550.02600.12-0.02-0.69
0.27-0.01600.02250.10-0.01-0.79
0.21-0.01650.01880.09-0.01-0.86
0.16-0.01700.01550.08-0.01-0.92
0.13-0.01750.01280.07-0.01-0.96
0.10-0.01800.01070.06-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot254565851052650
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

spot20355575951152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: PSN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk