Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 3:30 PM ET

SKHY max pain

Spot (delayed)$162.45
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$165+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.6±29.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.4557K puts / 39K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3059.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move

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$145-10.7%2d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.6%9d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.6%16d
Fri, Nov 20$155-4.6%23d
Fri, Nov 27$145-10.7%30d
Fri, Dec 4$146-10.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$160-1.5%51d
Fri, Jan 15$140-13.8%79d
Fri, Feb 19$155-4.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$150-7.7%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot165380158235313390$749M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1652.51001401802202806K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKHY 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

spot1652.5100140180220280987987
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5011818625432239086%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot50105145185225300+$533K−$533K
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
0.80-0.051250.00440.27-0.06-0.19
0.78-0.051300.00480.29-0.06-0.21
0.75-0.061350.00520.32-0.06-0.24
0.71-0.061400.00550.34-0.07-0.27
0.68-0.071450.00580.35-0.07-0.31
0.65-0.071500.00600.37-0.07-0.34
0.62-0.071550.00620.38-0.07-0.37
0.59-0.071600.00640.39-0.08-0.40
0.55-0.081650.00650.40-0.08-0.43
0.52-0.081700.00650.40-0.08-0.47
0.49-0.081750.00650.40-0.08-0.50
0.46-0.081800.00650.40-0.08-0.53
0.43-0.081850.00640.40-0.07-0.56
0.41-0.081900.00630.39-0.07-0.58
0.38-0.081950.00620.38-0.07-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25125140152.518021511K0
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

spot5010514417022027546K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 622K call contracts, 603K 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: SKHY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk