Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 2:43 AM ET

WLFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.19
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±26.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.5518 puts / 33 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3054.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$260per 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, Oct 16$55+40.3%2d
Fri, Nov 20$40+2.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$45+14.8%65d
Fri, Mar 19$40+2.1%156d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40304050607080$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot403040506070801212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WLFC 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

spot4030405060708011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30405060708076%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 35304050607080+$640−$640
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
0.86-0.01300.01760.06-0.01-0.16
0.74-0.01350.02680.09-0.01-0.28
0.58-0.01400.03280.10-0.01-0.45
0.43-0.01450.03260.10-0.01-0.61
0.32-0.01500.02840.09-0.01-0.74
0.23-0.01550.02340.08-0.01-0.83
0.18-0.01600.01890.07-0.01-0.90
0.14-0.01650.01530.06-0.01-0.95
0.11-0.01700.01250.05-0.01-0.98
0.09-0.01750.01030.04-0.02-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 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

spot455055606570220
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

spot2535455565752525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 70 call contracts, 22 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: WLFC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk