Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:20 AM ET

XRPT max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.22
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$15-44.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.55±71.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.1989 puts / 480 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV30141.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$29+6.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$30+10.2%54d
Fri, Mar 19$15-44.9%145d
Thu, Jun 17$23-15.5%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15142332425160$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot15142128343950112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XRPT 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

spot1514212834395055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot142332425160161%140%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 148.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 15142128343950+$705−$705
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
0.87-0.02140.00790.03-0.02-0.11
0.86-0.02150.00850.04-0.02-0.13
0.79-0.03190.01060.05-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.03200.01110.05-0.03-0.20
0.76-0.03210.01150.05-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.03230.01220.06-0.03-0.25
0.70-0.03250.01280.06-0.03-0.27
0.68-0.03270.01340.06-0.03-0.30
0.66-0.03280.01360.06-0.03-0.32
0.65-0.03290.01370.06-0.03-0.33
0.64-0.03300.01390.06-0.03-0.34
0.60-0.03330.01430.07-0.03-0.38
0.59-0.03340.01440.07-0.03-0.39
0.58-0.04350.01440.07-0.04-0.40
0.57-0.04360.01450.07-0.04-0.41

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1524313743552110
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

spot142128354249246246
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 485 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: XRPT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk