Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 20, 2:51 AM ET

COO max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.73
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$70-8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.2±18.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0017 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3034.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$548Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$70-8.8%1d
Fri, Sep 18$75-2.3%29d
Fri, Nov 20$70-8.8%92d
Fri, Dec 18$60-21.8%120d
Fri, Feb 19$70-8.8%183d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot704556677889100$6M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot7045607080901004K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COO 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

spot7045607080901007878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot455667788910057%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 554560708090100+$542K$542K
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
0.97450.00270.04-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.01550.00680.08-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.01600.01010.11-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.01650.01410.15-0.01-0.19
0.73-0.01700.01810.18-0.02-0.28
0.63-0.02750.02120.21-0.02-0.39
0.52-0.02800.02250.22-0.02-0.51
0.42-0.02850.02190.21-0.02-0.62
0.33-0.02900.01990.20-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.02950.01730.18-0.02-0.80
0.20-0.011000.01470.15-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot405570851001255K0
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

spot355575951155K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 2K 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: COO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk