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

RVTY max pain

Spot (delayed)$158.77
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$135-15.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.65±22.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.22166 puts / 764 calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3054.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$134Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$150-5.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$120-24.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$155-2.4%82d
Fri, Mar 19$135-15.0%145d
Fri, May 21$95-40.2%208d
Thu, Jun 17$125-21.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1356094128162196230$4M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13560100125150175220400400
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RVTY 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

spot1356010012515017522011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot609412816219623094%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 12060100125150175220+$90K−$90K
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
0.83-0.041250.00500.25-0.04-0.17
0.80-0.041300.00570.28-0.05-0.20
0.77-0.051350.00640.31-0.05-0.23
0.73-0.051400.00700.33-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.061450.00760.35-0.06-0.31
0.65-0.061500.00810.37-0.06-0.35
0.61-0.061550.00850.39-0.06-0.40
0.56-0.061600.00880.40-0.06-0.44
0.52-0.061650.00890.40-0.06-0.49
0.48-0.061700.00900.40-0.06-0.53
0.44-0.061750.00890.40-0.06-0.57
0.40-0.061800.00870.39-0.06-0.62
0.36-0.061850.00850.38-0.06-0.66
0.32-0.051900.00810.36-0.06-0.69
0.21-0.042100.00650.29-0.05-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751001251501752002K0
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

spot50801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: RVTY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk