Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:16 AM ET

TQQQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$66.44
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$72+8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.38±33.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.9936K puts / 36K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3071.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$353Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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
Mon, Oct 26$69+3.9%1d
Wed, Oct 28$69+3.9%3d
Fri, Oct 30$74+11.4%5d
Mon, Nov 2$71+6.9%8d
Wed, Nov 4$68+2.3%10d
Fri, Nov 6$74.5+12.1%12d
Fri, Nov 20$75+12.9%26d
Fri, Dec 18$70+5.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$40-39.8%82d
Fri, Mar 19$72+8.4%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7230496887106125$147M$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 — 72 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7230526272821055K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TQQQ 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

spot7230526272821051K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30496887106125103%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 903052627282105+$146K−$146K
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
0.69-0.04590.01170.15-0.04-0.31
0.68-0.04600.01200.15-0.04-0.32
0.66-0.04610.01230.15-0.04-0.33
0.65-0.04620.01260.15-0.04-0.35
0.64-0.04630.01290.16-0.04-0.36
0.62-0.04640.01320.16-0.04-0.38
0.61-0.04650.01340.16-0.04-0.39
0.59-0.04660.01360.16-0.04-0.40
0.58-0.04670.01380.16-0.04-0.42
0.57-0.04680.01400.16-0.04-0.43
0.55-0.04690.01420.17-0.04-0.45
0.54-0.04700.01440.17-0.04-0.46
0.52-0.04710.01450.17-0.04-0.48
0.51-0.04720.01460.17-0.04-0.49
0.49-0.04730.01470.17-0.04-0.51

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40606772.5788813K0
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

spot10405466778869K69K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 886K call contracts, 767K 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: TQQQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk