Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:37 PM ET

STLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$241.53
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$250+3.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.1±19.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.361K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$794Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$240-0.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$240-0.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$210-13.1%82d
Fri, Feb 19$200-17.2%117d
Fri, Mar 19$250+3.5%145d
Fri, May 21$240-0.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25095162229296363430$50M$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 — 250 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot250951501852403104102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STLD 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

spot2509515018524031041011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10517023530036543069%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 12595150185240310410+$584K−$584K
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
0.89-0.041850.00300.30-0.04-0.12
0.87-0.051900.00340.33-0.05-0.14
0.85-0.051950.00380.37-0.05-0.16
0.82-0.062000.00420.40-0.06-0.18
0.78-0.062100.00490.46-0.06-0.23
0.72-0.072200.00560.52-0.07-0.29
0.66-0.072300.00620.57-0.08-0.35
0.59-0.082400.00660.60-0.08-0.42
0.53-0.082500.00680.61-0.08-0.49
0.46-0.082600.00680.61-0.08-0.56
0.40-0.082700.00670.59-0.08-0.63
0.34-0.072800.00630.56-0.08-0.69
0.29-0.072900.00590.52-0.07-0.74
0.24-0.063000.00540.48-0.07-0.80
0.20-0.063100.00490.43-0.07-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701201652203104001K0
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

spot601051501952803703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 11K 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: STLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk