Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

SMCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.66
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$17+45.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.2±70.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.18308 puts / 260 calls
Call wall$34largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV30171.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$328per 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$16+37.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$18.33+57.2%54d
Fri, Mar 19$17+45.8%145d
Thu, Jun 17$12+2.9%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1751219253239$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot175916202739101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMCL 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

spot17591620273922
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51219253239167%139%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 143.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 75916202739+$447−$447
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
0.91-0.0150.01340.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0160.01700.01-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.0170.02050.02-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.0180.02370.02-0.01-0.19
0.77-0.0190.02650.02-0.01-0.22
0.74-0.01100.02890.02-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.01120.03250.03-0.01-0.32
0.58-0.01150.03560.03-0.01-0.42
0.55-0.01160.03600.03-0.01-0.45
0.53-0.01170.03640.03-0.01-0.47
0.50-0.01180.03650.03-0.01-0.50
0.48-0.01190.03650.03-0.01-0.52
0.46-0.01200.03640.03-0.01-0.54
0.42-0.01220.03580.03-0.01-0.59

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot111.67182433.3346.671200
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

spot111192836.6751.67191191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: SMCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk