Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:16 AM ET

VRSK max pain

Spot (delayed)$195.88
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$175-10.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34±17.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.73268 puts / 365 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3041.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$36Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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$180-8.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$180-8.1%53d
Fri, Mar 19$175-10.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$165-15.8%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175110146182218254290$3M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot175110135160185220270115115
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VRSK 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

spot17511013516018522027033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11014618221825429059%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 230115140165190230280+$22K−$22K
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
0.84-0.041600.00500.29-0.04-0.16
0.81-0.041650.00580.33-0.04-0.19
0.78-0.041700.00650.36-0.05-0.22
0.75-0.051750.00710.39-0.05-0.26
0.71-0.051800.00780.42-0.05-0.30
0.67-0.051850.00840.45-0.06-0.34
0.62-0.061900.00880.47-0.06-0.39
0.58-0.061950.00920.48-0.06-0.43
0.53-0.062000.00940.49-0.06-0.48
0.44-0.062100.00940.49-0.06-0.57
0.36-0.052200.00890.46-0.06-0.66
0.28-0.052300.00800.42-0.05-0.74
0.22-0.042400.00700.37-0.05-0.81
0.17-0.042500.00600.32-0.04-0.86
0.14-0.032600.00500.27-0.04-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101501701902202603840
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

spot90120150180220280384384
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 951 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: VRSK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk