Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:09 AM ET

QCML max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.35
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$11-32.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.5±52.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1770 puts / 401 calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30111.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$18+10.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$18+10.1%54d
Fri, Mar 19$11-32.7%145d
Thu, Jun 17$8-51.1%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot111916243139$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 — 11 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11110152025339292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QCML 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

spot111101520253311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51219253239261%101%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 108.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 511015202535+$835−$835
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
0.85-0.0190.02030.02-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.01100.02350.02-0.01-0.16
0.79-0.01110.02670.03-0.01-0.19
0.75-0.01120.02950.03-0.01-0.22
0.71-0.01130.03200.03-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.01140.03390.03-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01150.03530.04-0.01-0.33
0.59-0.01160.03620.04-0.01-0.36
0.56-0.01170.03670.04-0.01-0.39
0.52-0.01180.03680.04-0.01-0.42
0.49-0.01190.03670.04-0.01-0.45
0.46-0.01200.03630.04-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.01210.03570.04-0.01-0.51
0.40-0.01220.03500.04-0.01-0.53
0.38-0.01230.03420.04-0.01-0.55

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot113202734464150
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

spot11019283746422422
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 598 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: QCML workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk