Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:55 PM ET

WDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$347.35
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$450+29.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$109.55±31.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1919K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3067.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.8Mper 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, Oct 30$370+6.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$370+6.5%11d
Fri, Nov 13$400+15.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$390+12.3%25d
Fri, Nov 27$380+9.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$395+13.7%39d
Fri, Dec 18$360+3.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$380+9.4%81d
Fri, Mar 19$450+29.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$340-2.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4501753725697669631160$812M$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 — 450 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot4501752603604605707202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDC 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

spot4501752603604605707201010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot175372569766963116075%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot175260360460570720+$273K−$273K
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
0.78-0.132800.00210.64-0.14-0.22
0.76-0.142900.00220.69-0.15-0.25
0.73-0.153000.00240.72-0.16-0.27
0.70-0.163100.00250.76-0.17-0.30
0.68-0.173200.00260.79-0.17-0.33
0.65-0.173300.00270.81-0.18-0.36
0.62-0.183400.00270.83-0.18-0.39
0.59-0.183500.00280.85-0.19-0.41
0.56-0.183600.00280.86-0.19-0.44
0.54-0.193700.00290.87-0.19-0.47
0.51-0.193800.00290.87-0.19-0.50
0.49-0.193900.00290.87-0.19-0.53
0.46-0.194000.00290.87-0.19-0.55
0.44-0.184100.00280.86-0.19-0.58
0.41-0.184200.00280.85-0.18-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot250327.53704104705402K0
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

spot1512026039053068020K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 236K call contracts, 293K 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: WDC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk