Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:45 PM ET

CAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$101.55
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$140+37.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.55±28.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.38391 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3074.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 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, Oct 23$105+3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$105+3.4%7d
Fri, Nov 6$110+8.3%14d
Fri, Nov 13$105+3.4%21d
Fri, Nov 20$120+18.2%28d
Fri, Nov 27$106+4.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$150+47.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$170+67.4%84d
Fri, Feb 19$140+37.9%119d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14060104148192236280$11M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1406090120150180220228228
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAR 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

spot140609012015018022011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot6010414819223628091%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1456090120150180220+$18K−$18K
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
0.92-0.02650.00390.09-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.03700.00500.11-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.03750.00610.14-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.04800.00720.16-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.04850.00810.18-0.05-0.24
0.71-0.05900.00900.20-0.05-0.29
0.66-0.05950.00970.21-0.06-0.34
0.61-0.061000.01020.22-0.06-0.40
0.56-0.061050.01050.23-0.06-0.45
0.51-0.061100.01070.23-0.06-0.50
0.46-0.061150.01070.23-0.06-0.55
0.41-0.061200.01050.23-0.06-0.60
0.37-0.061250.01010.22-0.06-0.64
0.33-0.061300.00960.21-0.05-0.68
0.30-0.051350.00910.20-0.05-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851011111211311436080
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

spot30961221803007008K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 35K 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: CAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk