Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:24 AM ET

XPO max pain

Spot (delayed)$187.92
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$190+1.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.6±20.5% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.52673 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3045.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$151Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

Event risk before this expiration: 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$190+1.1%23d
Fri, Dec 18$180-4.2%51d
Fri, Jan 15$165-12.2%79d
Fri, Feb 19$175-6.9%114d
Fri, Mar 19$190+1.1%142d
Fri, May 21$175-6.9%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19095144193242291340$17M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot19095135170200260320600600
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XPO 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

spot1909513517020026032011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot9514419324229134067%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 11595140175210270330+$171K−$171K
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
0.83-0.041500.00460.29-0.05-0.17
0.78-0.051600.00570.35-0.05-0.22
0.75-0.051650.00620.38-0.06-0.26
0.71-0.061700.00670.40-0.06-0.29
0.68-0.061750.00720.42-0.06-0.33
0.64-0.061800.00760.44-0.06-0.37
0.60-0.061850.00800.45-0.07-0.41
0.56-0.061900.00820.46-0.07-0.45
0.52-0.061950.00840.47-0.07-0.49
0.47-0.062000.00840.47-0.07-0.54
0.40-0.062100.00830.45-0.06-0.62
0.32-0.062200.00780.42-0.06-0.70
0.26-0.052300.00700.38-0.05-0.76
0.21-0.052400.00620.34-0.05-0.82
0.17-0.042500.00540.30-0.04-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.5901251652102901K0
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

spot47.587.51201652203104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 10K 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: XPO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk