Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:57 PM ET

RVMD max pain

Spot (delayed)$186
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$180-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$50.8±27.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.68640 puts / 937 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3060.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$190+2.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$180-3.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$140-24.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$180-3.2%144d
Fri, May 21$200+7.5%207d
Thu, Jun 17$190+2.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18090138186234282330$11M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot18090120150180220280153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RVMD 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

spot180901201501802202801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot9013818623428233072%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 20090120150180220280+$24K−$24K
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
0.80-0.061500.00420.33-0.07-0.20
0.77-0.071550.00450.36-0.07-0.23
0.75-0.071600.00480.38-0.07-0.26
0.72-0.071650.00510.40-0.08-0.28
0.69-0.081700.00540.42-0.08-0.31
0.66-0.081750.00560.43-0.08-0.34
0.63-0.081800.00580.45-0.09-0.37
0.60-0.091850.00600.46-0.09-0.41
0.57-0.091900.00610.47-0.09-0.44
0.54-0.091950.00620.47-0.09-0.47
0.51-0.092000.00620.47-0.09-0.50
0.45-0.092100.00620.47-0.09-0.56
0.40-0.082200.00610.46-0.09-0.62
0.35-0.082300.00590.44-0.08-0.67
0.30-0.072400.00560.41-0.08-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2550951401852603K0
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

spot2547901351802505K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 27K 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: RVMD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk