Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:17 AM ET

VERX max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.39
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$8-48.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93±32.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.39266 puts / 675 calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3060.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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$14-9.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$12-22.0%53d
Fri, Mar 19$8-48.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$16+4.0%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot86913162023$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8610131620440440
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VERX 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

spot861013162011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot8111417202372%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot610131620+$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
0.94-0.0080.01480.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.0090.02060.01-0.00-0.08
0.88-0.00100.02740.02-0.00-0.11
0.84-0.01110.03520.02-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01120.04330.03-0.01-0.20
0.74-0.01130.05090.03-0.01-0.26
0.68-0.01140.05730.04-0.01-0.32
0.61-0.01150.06180.04-0.01-0.38
0.55-0.01160.06420.04-0.01-0.45
0.49-0.01170.06470.04-0.01-0.51
0.44-0.01180.06350.04-0.01-0.57
0.34-0.01200.05800.04-0.01-0.66
0.24-0.01230.04730.03-0.01-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot611141722271K0
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

spot38131823321K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 907 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: VERX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk