Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 10:24 AM ET

SGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$66.76
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$65-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.3±25.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1344 puts / 338 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
Net GEX+$23Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$65-2.6%5d
Fri, Oct 16$70+4.9%33d
Fri, Nov 20$70+4.9%68d
Fri, Dec 18$65-2.6%96d
Fri, Jan 15$65-2.6%124d
Fri, Feb 19$65-2.6%159d
Fri, Mar 19$65-2.6%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot654053667992105$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6540557085105166166
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SGI 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

spot654055708510533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot405366799210561%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 6540557085105+$12K$12K
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
0.94-0.01400.00460.06-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01450.00700.08-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01500.00980.11-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.02550.01270.14-0.02-0.22
0.71-0.02600.01550.17-0.02-0.30
0.62-0.02650.01750.18-0.02-0.39
0.53-0.02700.01860.19-0.02-0.48
0.45-0.02750.01860.19-0.02-0.57
0.37-0.02800.01780.18-0.02-0.66
0.30-0.02850.01640.17-0.02-0.73
0.24-0.02900.01460.15-0.02-0.80
0.19-0.01950.01280.13-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.011050.00940.10-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4065759011013018K0
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

spot254055709012019K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 52K call contracts, 5K 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: SGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk