Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:18 PM ET

TER max pain

Spot (delayed)$308
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$360+16.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$102.9±33.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI10.48482 puts / 46 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3076.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$90Kper 1% move

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 30$325+5.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$360+16.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$385+25.0%18d
Fri, Nov 20$370+20.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$360+16.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$340+10.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$340+10.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$320+3.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$360+16.9%144d
Fri, Apr 16$360+16.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot360170236302368434500$4M$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 — 360 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot360170250290330370500200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TER 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

spot36017025029033037050066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot17023630236843450072%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot170250290330370500+$30K−$30K
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
0.81-0.122400.00210.54-0.13-0.20
0.78-0.132500.00230.58-0.14-0.23
0.75-0.142600.00240.62-0.15-0.26
0.72-0.152700.00260.66-0.15-0.28
0.69-0.152800.00270.69-0.16-0.32
0.66-0.162900.00280.71-0.17-0.35
0.63-0.173000.00290.73-0.17-0.38
0.60-0.173100.00300.75-0.17-0.41
0.57-0.173200.00300.76-0.18-0.44
0.55-0.173300.00310.77-0.18-0.47
0.52-0.173400.00310.78-0.18-0.50
0.49-0.183500.00310.78-0.18-0.53
0.46-0.173600.00310.77-0.18-0.55
0.44-0.173700.00310.77-0.18-0.58
0.41-0.173800.00300.76-0.17-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2303103453854304909860
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

spot701452203103754906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 59K 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: TER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk