Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:12 AM ET

THFF max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.1
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$70-10.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.85±12.6% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.8612 puts / 14 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3030.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$758per 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Event risk before this expiration: 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$75-4.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$75-4.0%51d
Fri, Mar 19$70-10.4%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot706068768492100$1M$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

spot70607085951010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)THFF 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

spot706070859511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot606876849210046%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 8560708595+$2K−$2K
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
0.87-0.01600.01040.10-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01650.01510.12-0.01-0.17
0.76-0.01700.02270.15-0.01-0.24
0.46-0.01800.03720.19-0.01-0.55
0.33-0.01850.02980.17-0.01-0.69
0.25-0.01900.02260.15-0.01-0.77
0.20-0.01950.01770.14-0.01-0.82
0.16-0.011000.01420.12-0.01-0.85

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

spot5060758595110
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

spot35506580951101212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 41 call contracts, 31 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: THFF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk