Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 3:35 AM ET

QQQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$704.3
Max pain · Wed, Mar 31$690-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$82.75±11.7% by Wed, Mar 31
Put/Call OI0.8852K puts / 60K calls
Call wall$800largest call OI
Put wall$705largest put OI
IV3021.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $800

Event risk before this expiration: 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 30$723+2.7%today
Mon, Nov 2$719+2.1%3d
Tue, Nov 3$714+1.4%4d
Wed, Nov 4$720+2.2%5d
Thu, Nov 5$710+0.8%6d
Fri, Nov 6$720+2.2%7d
Fri, Nov 20$726+3.1%21d
Fri, Dec 18$700-0.6%49d
Thu, Dec 31$715+1.5%62d
Fri, Jan 15$700-0.6%77d
Fri, Feb 19$740+5.1%112d
Fri, Mar 19$720+2.2%140d
Wed, Mar 31$690-2.0%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot690405514623732841950$1.2B$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 — 690 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Wed, Mar 31

spot6904056056657207708304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQ open contracts per strike for Wed, Mar 31.

Open-interest change · 2026-10-28 → 2026-10-29

spot500635700735790845+1K−1K
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot: where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Only strikes observed on both days are compared. Biggest moves: 805 +1K · 750 −274 · 830 +50 · 600 −24

Volume by strike · Wed, Mar 31

spot690405605665720770830225225
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Wed, Mar 31

spot40551462373284195047%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Wed, Mar 31

spotflip 800405605665720770830+$5.5M−$5.5M
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 · Wed, Mar 31

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.116650.00301.56-0.13-0.30
0.70-0.116700.00311.60-0.13-0.31
0.68-0.126750.00321.63-0.13-0.33
0.67-0.126800.00331.66-0.13-0.34
0.63-0.126900.00351.72-0.13-0.38
0.62-0.126950.00361.74-0.13-0.40
0.60-0.127000.00371.77-0.13-0.42
0.58-0.127050.00381.78-0.13-0.44
0.56-0.127100.00391.80-0.13-0.46
0.54-0.127150.00391.81-0.13-0.48
0.52-0.127200.00401.82-0.13-0.50
0.50-0.127250.00401.82-0.13-0.52
0.48-0.127300.00411.82-0.13-0.55
0.46-0.127350.00411.81-0.13-0.57
0.44-0.127400.00411.80-0.13-0.59

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47064070171873675237K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-1308-3109-1610-0210-20760.19660.09
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot350580650715780865362K362K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5.3M call contracts, 7.4M 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: QQQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk