Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:37 PM ET

CAMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$132
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$145+9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$39.6±30.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.13261 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3072.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$210Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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$150+13.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$125-5.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$120-9.1%86d
Fri, Feb 19$145+9.8%121d
Fri, May 21$150+13.6%212d
Fri, Dec 17$120-9.1%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14565108151194237280$21M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot14565951251551952501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAMT 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

spot145659512515519525011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot6510815119423728085%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 14565100130160200260+$161K−$161K
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
0.85-0.04950.00430.17-0.05-0.14
0.82-0.051000.00480.20-0.05-0.17
0.79-0.051050.00540.22-0.06-0.21
0.75-0.061100.00600.24-0.06-0.24
0.72-0.061150.00650.26-0.07-0.28
0.68-0.071200.00690.27-0.07-0.31
0.64-0.071250.00730.28-0.07-0.35
0.60-0.071300.00750.29-0.08-0.39
0.56-0.081350.00770.30-0.08-0.43
0.53-0.081400.00780.30-0.08-0.47
0.49-0.081450.00790.30-0.08-0.51
0.45-0.081500.00780.30-0.08-0.54
0.42-0.081550.00770.30-0.07-0.58
0.39-0.081600.00760.29-0.07-0.61
0.36-0.071650.00740.28-0.07-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot35851201551902505K0
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

spot30701101501902606K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 18K 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: CAMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk