Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:49 AM ET

WHD max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.15
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$65+2.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.85±18.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.0582 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3039.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$82Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$60-5.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$60-5.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$60-5.0%116d
Fri, Mar 19$65+2.9%144d
Fri, May 21$75+18.8%207d
Fri, Dec 17$70+10.8%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot655566778899110$4M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6555708090100110737737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WHD 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

spot655570809010011022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot556677889911041%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 6555708090100110+$44K−$44K
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
0.77-0.02550.01930.12-0.02-0.24
0.52-0.02650.02690.16-0.02-0.49
0.40-0.02700.02640.15-0.02-0.62
0.29-0.02750.02340.14-0.02-0.74
0.20-0.01800.01930.11-0.01-0.84
0.14-0.01850.01500.09-0.01-0.91
0.09-0.01900.01120.07-0.01-0.97
0.06-0.01950.00820.05—-0.99
0.04-0.001000.00580.04—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35506580959050
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

spot25405570851001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 961 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: WHD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk