Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:02 AM ET

AAOI max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.31
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$85+26.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28±41.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.012K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV30107.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$30Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$82+21.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$95+41.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$79+17.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$95+41.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$92+36.7%32d
Fri, Dec 4$67-0.5%39d
Fri, Dec 18$100+48.6%53d
Fri, Jan 15$85+26.3%81d
Fri, Feb 19$85+26.3%116d
Fri, Mar 19$100+48.6%144d
Fri, Apr 16$85+26.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85457299126153180$13M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot854570951201451701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAOI open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 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, Feb 19

spot854570951201451704141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot457299126153180106%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 60457095120145170+$57K−$57K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.04450.00620.09-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.04500.00750.11-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.05550.00860.12-0.05-0.25
0.71-0.05600.00960.14-0.05-0.30
0.65-0.06650.01030.14-0.06-0.36
0.60-0.06700.01080.15-0.06-0.41
0.55-0.06750.01100.15-0.06-0.46
0.50-0.06800.01110.15-0.06-0.51
0.46-0.06850.01100.15-0.06-0.56
0.41-0.06900.01080.15-0.06-0.60
0.38-0.06950.01050.15-0.06-0.64
0.34-0.061000.01010.14-0.06-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot507586981101273K0
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

spot7.5508210516023022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 205K call contracts, 184K 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: AAOI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk