Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 8:07 PM ET

STE max pain

Spot (delayed)$223.89
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$200-10.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.95±13.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.5936 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3027.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $260

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 16$210-6.2%1d
Fri, Nov 20$220-1.7%36d
Fri, Dec 18$210-6.2%64d
Fri, Mar 19$200-10.7%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200135172209246283320$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot2001351551852302703101515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STE 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

spot200135155185230270310160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13517220924628332044%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 260135155185230270310+$5K−$5K
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
0.95-0.011600.00210.16-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.011650.00250.19-0.02-0.07
0.92-0.011700.00300.21-0.02-0.08
0.87-0.021850.00480.32-0.03-0.14
0.84-0.031900.00550.35-0.03-0.16
0.78-0.042000.00710.43-0.04-0.23
0.70-0.042100.00870.51-0.04-0.31
0.50-0.052300.01060.58-0.05-0.51
0.40-0.042400.01050.56-0.05-0.62
0.30-0.042500.00970.51-0.04-0.73
0.23-0.032600.00830.44-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.032700.00680.36-0.02-0.89
0.12-0.022800.00530.29-0.02-0.95
0.08-0.022900.00410.22-0.03-0.99
0.06-0.013000.00300.17-0.03-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1302102402703004520
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

spot130155180210260310519519
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 714 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: STE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk