Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 9:40 AM ET

BAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$372.5
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$390+4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.25±21.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.4436 puts / 25 calls
Call wall$390largest call OI
Put wall$380largest put OI
IV3036.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$340-8.7%8d
Fri, Sep 18$380+2.0%36d
Fri, Nov 20$380+2.0%99d
Fri, Feb 19$390+4.7%190d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot390260306352398444490$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 — 390 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3902603203503804802020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BAP 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

spot39026032035038048011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot26030635239844449042%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot260320350380480+$10K$10K
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
0.86-0.052900.00200.60-0.06-0.14
0.84-0.053000.00230.67-0.07-0.17
0.78-0.073200.00290.80-0.08-0.23
0.75-0.073300.00310.86-0.09-0.26
0.71-0.083400.00340.92-0.09-0.30
0.68-0.093500.00360.97-0.10-0.33
0.64-0.093600.00381.01-0.10-0.37
0.60-0.093700.00391.04-0.10-0.42
0.56-0.103800.00401.06-0.10-0.46
0.52-0.103900.00411.07-0.10-0.50
0.33-0.094400.00380.98-0.09-0.70
0.22-0.074800.00310.80-0.07-0.84
0.19-0.074900.00290.74-0.07-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2703203604004404901K0
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

spot1702203003804605401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 747 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: BAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk