Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:06 AM ET

USAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.38
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$13+38.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.95±42.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.5219K puts / 37K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3086.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$11+17.3%4d
Fri, Nov 6$11.5+22.6%11d
Fri, Nov 13$12+27.9%18d
Fri, Nov 20$14+49.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$10+6.6%32d
Fri, Dec 4$14+49.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$16+70.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$16+70.6%81d
Fri, Mar 19$13+38.6%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1351218253138$68M$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13511172329357K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USAR 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

spot1351117232935261261
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51218253138114%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1551117232935+$15K−$15K
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
0.93-0.0050.02750.01-0.00-0.08
0.87-0.0060.04190.01-0.00-0.13
0.80-0.0170.05510.02-0.01-0.20
0.72-0.0180.06560.02-0.01-0.28
0.65-0.0190.07270.02-0.01-0.36
0.57-0.01100.07650.02-0.01-0.43
0.51-0.01110.07750.02-0.01-0.50
0.45-0.01120.07630.02-0.01-0.56
0.39-0.01130.07370.02-0.01-0.62
0.34-0.01140.07020.02-0.01-0.67
0.30-0.01150.06610.02-0.01-0.72
0.27-0.01160.06170.02-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5.59.51316.520243K0
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

spot39.51520.5294233K33K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 338K call contracts, 210K 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: USAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk