Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 4:22 PM ET

WCLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.6
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$39-16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.73±18.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.36206 puts / 152 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3036.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$40-14.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$20-57.1%54d
Fri, Mar 19$39-16.3%145d
Thu, Jun 17$38-18.5%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot39263034374145$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot392632374044101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WCLD 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

spot3926323740445050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot32353740424556%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 352632374044+$8K−$8K
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
0.79-0.02370.02160.08-0.01-0.21
0.77-0.02380.02350.08-0.01-0.23
0.75-0.02390.02550.09-0.01-0.25
0.73-0.02400.02760.09-0.01-0.27
0.70-0.02410.02970.10-0.01-0.30
0.67-0.02420.03180.10-0.01-0.32
0.60-0.02440.03530.11-0.01-0.39
0.56-0.02450.03640.11-0.01-0.42

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 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

spot1724303541461300
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

spot172329354147130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 591 call contracts, 274 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: WCLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk