Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 2:52 AM ET

CIGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.28
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$120+28.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.85±13.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI2.03242 puts / 119 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3034.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$18Kper 1% move

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$105+12.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$70-25.0%58d
Fri, Feb 19$120+28.6%121d
Fri, May 21$70-25.0%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120506886104122140$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1205070851051201357878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIGI 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

spot12050708510512013511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot50688610412214083%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot507085105120135+$12K−$12K
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
0.96-0.01500.00220.04-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01600.00400.07-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.01650.00540.08-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02700.00740.10-0.02-0.11
0.85-0.02750.00990.12-0.02-0.15
0.80-0.02800.01340.15-0.02-0.20
0.73-0.02850.01760.18-0.03-0.27
0.64-0.03900.02200.20-0.03-0.37
0.40-0.031000.02390.21-0.03-0.61
0.31-0.021050.02080.19-0.02-0.71
0.24-0.021100.01740.17-0.02-0.78
0.20-0.021150.01440.15-0.02-0.83
0.16-0.021200.01200.13-0.02-0.87
0.14-0.021250.01010.12-0.02-0.90
0.12-0.021300.00860.11-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901051201351506900
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

spot457095120145690690
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 961 call contracts, 1K 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: CIGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk