Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:49 AM ET

ACIW max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.88
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$40-28.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.18±18.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.1545 puts / 292 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3043.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move

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$50-10.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$50-10.5%53d
Fri, Feb 19$40-28.4%116d
Fri, May 21$30-46.3%207d

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, Feb 19

spot403040506070808989
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACIW 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

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

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot30405060708078%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot304050607080+$8K−$8K
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
0.94-0.01300.00440.04-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01350.00680.05-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.02400.01050.06-0.02-0.12
0.81-0.02450.01600.08-0.02-0.18
0.72-0.02500.02380.11-0.02-0.28
0.58-0.02550.03190.12-0.02-0.42
0.42-0.02600.03390.12-0.02-0.59
0.28-0.02650.02850.11-0.02-0.73
0.20-0.01700.02190.09-0.02-0.82
0.15-0.01750.01680.07-0.01-0.87
0.12-0.01800.01320.06-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3040506070801590
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

spot203045607590159159
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 609 call contracts, 198 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: ACIW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk