Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:16 AM ET

SQQQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.56
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$35-11.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.8±37.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.728K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3075.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$140Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $19

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, Oct 30$35-11.5%5d
Fri, Nov 6$35-11.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$37-6.5%19d
Fri, Nov 20$33-16.6%26d
Fri, Nov 27$35-11.5%33d
Fri, Dec 4$38.5-2.7%40d
Fri, Dec 18$35-11.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$40+1.1%82d
Fri, Mar 19$35-11.5%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35182839496070$27M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot351825323946651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SQQQ 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

spot35182532394665379379
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot19293950607093%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 19182532394665+$29K−$29K
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
0.76-0.02330.02100.08-0.02-0.27
0.73-0.02340.02150.08-0.02-0.29
0.71-0.02350.02190.09-0.02-0.32
0.68-0.02360.02210.09-0.02-0.34
0.66-0.02370.02230.09-0.02-0.37
0.64-0.02380.02230.09-0.02-0.39
0.61-0.02390.02240.10-0.02-0.41
0.59-0.02400.02230.10-0.03-0.43
0.57-0.02410.02230.10-0.03-0.45
0.55-0.03420.02220.10-0.03-0.47
0.54-0.03430.02200.10-0.03-0.49
0.52-0.03440.02180.10-0.03-0.51
0.50-0.03450.02160.10-0.03-0.53
0.48-0.03460.02140.10-0.03-0.54
0.47-0.03470.02120.10-0.03-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1829.53438.54347.57K0
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

spot18323742519028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 243K call contracts, 132K 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: SQQQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk