Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 2:23 AM ET

CL max pain

Spot (delayed)$95.29
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$90-5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.95±10.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI4.405K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$92.5largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3023.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$765Kper 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, Nov 6$92-3.5%5d
Fri, Nov 13$90-5.6%12d
Fri, Nov 20$90-5.6%19d
Fri, Nov 27$93-2.4%26d
Fri, Dec 4$90-5.6%33d
Fri, Dec 18$90-5.6%47d
Fri, Jan 15$87.5-8.2%75d
Fri, Feb 19$90-5.6%110d
Fri, Mar 19$87.5-8.2%138d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9055698397111125$16M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot90557585951102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CL 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

spot90557585951109292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5569839711112565%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot55758595110+$538K−$538K
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
0.93-0.0177.50.00900.07-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01800.01170.08-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.0182.50.01520.10-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01850.01920.13-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.0287.50.02360.15-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02900.02780.18-0.02-0.29
0.65-0.0292.50.03140.20-0.02-0.36
0.57-0.02950.03390.21-0.02-0.45
0.48-0.0297.50.03480.21-0.02-0.53
0.40-0.021000.03390.20-0.02-0.62
0.25-0.021050.02800.17-0.02-0.77
0.16-0.011100.02020.13-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.011150.01410.10-0.02-0.95
0.08-0.011200.01030.08-0.01-0.98
0.06-0.011250.00790.07-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55879195991101K0
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

spot40768492.51011358K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 39K call contracts, 34K 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: CL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk