Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 10:01 AM ET

TEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.3
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$70+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.57±39.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.595K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3085.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$229Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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 23$69+2.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$70+4.0%9d
Fri, Nov 6$70+4.0%16d
Fri, Nov 13$70+4.0%23d
Fri, Nov 20$65-3.4%30d
Fri, Nov 27$69+2.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$65-3.4%58d
Fri, Jan 15$55-18.3%86d
Fri, Feb 19$70+4.0%121d
Fri, Mar 19$70+4.0%149d
Fri, Apr 16$70+4.0%177d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7023436484105125$41M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7022.54060801001203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEM 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

spot7022.54060801001204242
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot23436484105125104%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7522.5456585105125+$147K−$147K
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
0.97—300.00220.04-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01350.00350.05-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01400.00500.07-0.02-0.10
0.86-0.02450.00660.10-0.03-0.14
0.81-0.03500.00810.12-0.03-0.19
0.76-0.03550.00950.14-0.03-0.25
0.70-0.04600.01050.15-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.04650.01130.16-0.04-0.37
0.58-0.04700.01180.17-0.04-0.43
0.53-0.04750.01200.17-0.04-0.48
0.48-0.04800.01190.17-0.04-0.54
0.43-0.04850.01170.17-0.04-0.59
0.39-0.04900.01140.17-0.04-0.63
0.35-0.04950.01100.16-0.04-0.67
0.32-0.041000.01050.15-0.03-0.71

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

spot40576777871005K0
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

spot17.55365778912030K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 232K call contracts, 127K 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: TEM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk