Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 4:12 AM ET

SMBC max pain

Spot (delayed)$71.9
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$75+4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.7±13.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.6712 puts / 18 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$330per 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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, Dec 18$70-2.6%53d
Fri, Mar 19$75+4.3%144d
Thu, Jun 17$60-16.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot755565758595105$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot75556575859588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMBC 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

spot75556575859511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot556575859510553%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1055565758595+$623−$623
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
0.86-0.01550.01070.10-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.01600.01580.12-0.01-0.18
0.74-0.01650.02400.14-0.01-0.26
0.61-0.01700.03550.17-0.01-0.39
0.42-0.01750.03910.18-0.01-0.59
0.28-0.01800.03000.15-0.01-0.73
0.21-0.01850.02210.13-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.01900.01700.12-0.01-0.85
0.15-0.01950.01360.10-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.011050.00970.09-0.01-0.91

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

spot5570809010580
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

spot35506580951101111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 37 call contracts, 31 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: SMBC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk