Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 9:34 PM ET

TSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$431.28
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$420-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$77.9±18.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.5462K puts / 40K calls
Call wall$520largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3033.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$164Kper 1% move

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, Oct 30$425-1.5%2d
Fri, Nov 6$440+2.0%9d
Fri, Nov 13$435+0.9%16d
Fri, Nov 20$420-2.6%23d
Fri, Nov 27$450+4.3%30d
Fri, Dec 4$440+2.0%37d
Fri, Dec 18$420-2.6%51d
Fri, Jan 15$380-11.9%79d
Fri, Feb 19$420-2.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$420-2.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$430-0.3%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot420165276387498609720$1.1B$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 — 420 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4201652303304305606606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TSM 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

spot420165230330430560660583583
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot16527638749860972076%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot165230330430560660+$3.0M−$3.0M
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
0.85-0.063600.00230.64-0.08-0.15
0.83-0.073700.00260.71-0.09-0.18
0.80-0.083800.00280.78-0.10-0.21
0.76-0.093900.00310.85-0.11-0.24
0.73-0.104000.00340.91-0.11-0.28
0.69-0.114100.00360.96-0.12-0.32
0.65-0.114200.00381.01-0.13-0.36
0.61-0.124300.00391.04-0.13-0.40
0.57-0.124400.00401.07-0.13-0.44
0.53-0.134500.00411.09-0.13-0.48
0.49-0.134600.00421.09-0.13-0.52
0.46-0.134700.00411.08-0.13-0.57
0.42-0.134800.00411.07-0.12-0.61
0.38-0.124900.00401.04-0.12-0.65
0.34-0.125000.00381.01-0.11-0.68

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

spot230315382.5420452.549515K0
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

spot7020032041548060079K79K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 928K call contracts, 952K 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: TSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk