Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 9:00 PM ET

SRCE max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.36
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$85-0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.53±12.3% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.377 puts / 19 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3019.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 22usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$80-6.3%24d
Fri, Nov 20$80-6.3%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Oct 22)
Fri, Dec 18$80-6.3%87d
Fri, Mar 19$85-0.4%178d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot857076828894100$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot857080901001515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SRCE 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

spot8570809010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot707682889410031%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 90708090100+$3K$3K
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
0.86-0.01700.01240.13-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.01750.01790.17-0.01-0.21
0.70-0.01800.02470.20-0.01-0.31
0.56-0.01850.03070.23-0.01-0.45
0.40-0.01900.03170.23-0.01-0.61
0.27-0.01950.02680.20-0.01-0.75
0.18-0.011000.02030.16-0.01-0.84

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

spot80859095110
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

spot4060801001201919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38 call contracts, 14 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: SRCE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk