Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 1:36 AM ET

AR max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.16
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$31-22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.9±17.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.491K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$31largest call OI
Put wall$37largest put OI
IV3040.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$68Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$36-10.4%6d
Fri, Nov 6$38-5.4%13d
Fri, Nov 13$36-10.4%20d
Fri, Nov 20$38.5-4.1%27d
Fri, Nov 27$38-5.4%34d
Fri, Dec 4$36-10.4%41d
Fri, Dec 18$38-5.4%55d
Fri, Jan 15$35-12.8%83d
Fri, Feb 19$31-22.8%118d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31202734414855$4M$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 — 31 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot31202832364050970970
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AR 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

spot312028323640507272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot20273441485567%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 25202832364050+$26K−$26K
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
0.86-0.01330.02530.05-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.01340.02910.06-0.01-0.18
0.79-0.01350.03280.07-0.01-0.21
0.75-0.01360.03640.07-0.01-0.25
0.71-0.01370.03960.08-0.01-0.29
0.67-0.01380.04230.08-0.01-0.34
0.62-0.01390.04430.09-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.01400.04570.09-0.01-0.43
0.53-0.01410.04640.09-0.01-0.48
0.49-0.01420.04640.09-0.01-0.52
0.36-0.01450.04320.09-0.01-0.65
0.21-0.01500.03230.07-0.01-0.82
0.12-0.01550.02130.05-0.01-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25323537.539.5425020
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

spot152833.537.542509K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 53K call contracts, 30K 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: AR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk