Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:06 PM ET

WDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$352
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$340-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$120.52±34.2% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI0.927K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3065.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$347Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $340

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+5.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$370+5.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$400+13.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$390+10.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$380+8.0%32d
Fri, Dec 4$395+12.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$360+2.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$380+8.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$450+27.8%144d
Fri, Apr 16$340-3.4%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340180284388492596700$234M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot3401802703604505406305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDC open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot3401802703604505406302121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot18028438849259670071%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spotflip 340190280370460550640+$1.5M−$1.5M
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.132800.00200.73-0.14-0.23
0.75-0.142900.00210.77-0.14-0.26
0.72-0.143000.00220.80-0.15-0.29
0.70-0.153100.00230.84-0.16-0.31
0.67-0.163200.00240.86-0.16-0.34
0.65-0.163300.00240.89-0.17-0.36
0.62-0.163400.00250.91-0.17-0.39
0.59-0.173500.00260.93-0.17-0.42
0.57-0.173600.00260.94-0.17-0.44
0.55-0.173700.00260.94-0.18-0.47
0.52-0.173800.00260.95-0.18-0.49
0.50-0.173900.00260.95-0.18-0.52
0.47-0.174000.00260.95-0.18-0.54
0.45-0.174100.00260.94-0.18-0.56
0.43-0.174200.00260.94-0.18-0.59

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 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