Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:59 PM ET

PTF max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$85-19.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.9±26.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.58120 puts / 76 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3060.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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$104-1.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$105-0.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$85-19.6%145d
Thu, Jun 17$80-24.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85456585105125145$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot85456075991091194141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTF 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

spot854560759910911911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot45658510512514589%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 11045607599109119+$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
0.90-0.03650.00340.11-0.03-0.10
0.88-0.03700.00420.13-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.04750.00510.15-0.04-0.15
0.78-0.04850.00700.20-0.04-0.22
0.74-0.04900.00800.21-0.04-0.26
0.66-0.05990.00980.25-0.05-0.35
0.65-0.051000.01000.25-0.05-0.36
0.58-0.051060.01090.26-0.05-0.42
0.55-0.051090.01130.27-0.05-0.46
0.54-0.051100.01140.27-0.05-0.47
0.47-0.041160.01180.27-0.05-0.54
0.43-0.041190.01190.26-0.05-0.58
0.22-0.031400.00960.20-0.04-0.81
0.19-0.031450.00870.18-0.03-0.85

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

spot50901021101191552000
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

spot458899110121175200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 845 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: PTF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk