Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 3, 11:34 PM ET

SWKS max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.03
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$65-23.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.3±29.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.41572 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3055.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

Event risk before this expiration: 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$85-0.0%12d
Fri, Nov 20$70-17.7%47d
Fri, Dec 18$70-17.7%75d
Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.7%103d
Fri, Feb 19$80-5.9%138d
Fri, Mar 19$65-23.6%166d
Fri, May 21$80-5.9%229d
Thu, Jun 17$77.5-8.9%256d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6528486989110130$5M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6527.542.557.572.587.5110493493
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SWKS 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

spot6527.542.557.572.587.51101010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot28486989110130102%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 8027.54562.577.592.5120+$35K−$35K
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
0.80-0.0367.50.00850.16-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.03700.00920.17-0.03-0.23
0.74-0.0372.50.00980.18-0.03-0.26
0.71-0.03750.01040.20-0.03-0.29
0.69-0.0377.50.01090.20-0.04-0.32
0.66-0.04800.01130.21-0.04-0.35
0.63-0.0482.50.01170.22-0.04-0.38
0.59-0.04850.01190.22-0.04-0.41
0.57-0.0487.50.01210.23-0.04-0.44
0.54-0.04900.01220.23-0.04-0.47
0.51-0.0492.50.01230.23-0.04-0.50
0.48-0.04950.01230.23-0.04-0.53
0.43-0.041000.01210.23-0.04-0.59
0.38-0.041050.01170.22-0.04-0.64
0.34-0.041100.01110.21-0.04-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.547.562.577.592.51153K0
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

spot27.54562.58097.51305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 38K 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: SWKS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk