Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:39 AM ET

UMBF max pain

Spot (delayed)$135.51
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$130-4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.8±11.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.3215 puts / 47 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3024.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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, Nov 20$120-11.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$140+3.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$130-4.1%144d
Thu, Jun 17$90-33.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13090109128147166185$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot130901051301451601852626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UMBF 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

spot1309010513014516018511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot9010912814716618558%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 14090105130145160185+$10K−$10K
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
0.95-0.01900.00260.08-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.01950.00330.10-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.011000.00430.12-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.021050.00560.14-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.021100.00720.17-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.021150.00920.20-0.02-0.16
0.67-0.031300.01760.31-0.03-0.34
0.57-0.031350.01970.34-0.03-0.44
0.47-0.031400.02030.34-0.03-0.55
0.38-0.031450.01920.33-0.03-0.64
0.30-0.021500.01710.30-0.03-0.72
0.24-0.021550.01470.27-0.02-0.79
0.20-0.021600.01250.24-0.02-0.84
0.11-0.021750.00760.17-0.02-0.94
0.10-0.011800.00650.15-0.02-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001301451601851050
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

spot6590115140165190105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 404 call contracts, 91 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: UMBF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk