Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 12:24 AM ET

BX max pain

Spot (delayed)$119.95
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$125+4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.8±16.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.669K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3035.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$792Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$117-2.5%1d
Fri, Nov 6$116-3.3%8d
Fri, Nov 13$117-2.5%15d
Fri, Nov 20$155+29.2%22d
Fri, Nov 27$115-4.1%29d
Fri, Dec 4$116-3.3%36d
Fri, Dec 18$135+12.5%50d
Fri, Jan 15$130+8.4%78d
Fri, Feb 19$125+4.2%113d
Fri, Mar 19$120+0.0%141d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1255586117148179210$51M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12555851151451752102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BX 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

spot1255585115145175210100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot558611714817921070%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5585115145175210+$335K−$335K
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
0.95-0.00850.00380.07-0.02-0.07
0.92-0.01900.00540.10-0.02-0.10
0.89-0.02950.00730.13-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.021000.00940.16-0.03-0.18
0.79-0.031050.01170.19-0.03-0.24
0.72-0.031100.01380.22-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.041150.01560.24-0.04-0.39
0.56-0.041200.01680.26-0.04-0.47
0.48-0.041250.01720.26-0.04-0.55
0.40-0.041300.01680.25-0.04-0.63
0.32-0.041350.01570.23-0.03-0.70
0.26-0.031400.01410.21-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.031450.01230.18-0.02-0.82
0.15-0.021500.01040.15-0.01-0.86
0.11-0.021550.00850.13-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901061131201271341K0
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

spot559011613016520040K40K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 179K call contracts, 329K 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: BX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk