Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:03 AM ET

SAIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.14
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$350+5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$83.15±25.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.79210 puts / 266 calls
Call wall$360largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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$350+5.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$300-9.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$350+5.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350190248306364422480$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot350190240290340390460164164
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SAIA 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

spot35019024029034039046011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot19024830636442248057%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 240190240290340390460+$71K−$71K
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
0.88-0.072400.00180.41-0.07-0.12
0.86-0.082500.00200.47-0.08-0.14
0.83-0.092600.00230.53-0.09-0.17
0.80-0.102700.00260.58-0.10-0.20
0.74-0.122900.00310.69-0.12-0.27
0.70-0.123000.00330.73-0.13-0.30
0.67-0.133100.00350.77-0.13-0.34
0.59-0.143300.00370.82-0.14-0.41
0.55-0.143400.00380.83-0.14-0.45
0.52-0.143500.00380.84-0.14-0.49
0.48-0.143600.00390.84-0.14-0.53
0.41-0.133800.00380.82-0.14-0.60
0.38-0.133900.00370.80-0.14-0.64
0.32-0.124100.00350.75-0.13-0.70
0.29-0.124200.00340.72-0.13-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1602603304004706001K0
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

spot1602103003904805701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 873 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: SAIA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk