Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:26 PM ET

TECH max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.6
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$60-17.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.75±3.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.01206 puts / 17K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV307.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$55-24.2%24d
Fri, Dec 18$50-31.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$55-24.2%80d
Fri, Feb 19$75+3.3%115d
Fri, Mar 19$60-17.4%143d
Fri, Apr 16$40-44.9%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot604053667992105$53M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot60405060708010014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TECH 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

spot60405060708010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 604050607080100+$6.0M−$6.0M
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
1.00-0.00400.00100.01-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.00450.00160.01-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.00500.00280.02-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.00550.00050.03-0.00-0.02
0.99-0.00600.01070.01-0.00-0.04
0.96-0.00650.03300.04-0.00-0.08
0.81-0.00700.11280.12-0.00-0.22
0.08-0.00750.08270.08-0.00-0.90
0.010.00800.01110.02—-0.97
0.010.00850.00370.01—-0.98
0.000.001000.00060.00—-1.00
0.000.001050.00040.00—-1.00

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

spot4555657523K0
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

spot254055708510043K43K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 61K call contracts, 4K 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: TECH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk