Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:22 PM ET

CSX max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.31
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$50-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.68±11.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.46474 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3022.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$87Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $52.5

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 30$48-6.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$49.5-3.5%11d
Fri, Nov 13$50-2.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$50-2.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$48-6.5%32d
Fri, Dec 4$46-10.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$37.5-26.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40-22.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$50-2.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$47.5-7.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50303846546270$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot50304047.55565372372
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSX 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

spot50304047.5556555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot30384654627048%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 52.5304047.55565+$53K−$53K
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
0.98—32.50.00320.01-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0037.50.00780.02-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.00400.01240.03-0.00-0.05
0.91-0.0042.50.01990.05-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01450.03050.07-0.01-0.15
0.76-0.0147.50.04300.09-0.01-0.25
0.64-0.01500.05360.11-0.01-0.38
0.50-0.0152.50.05800.12-0.01-0.53
0.36-0.01550.05480.11-0.01-0.67
0.25-0.0157.50.04600.09-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.01600.03520.07-0.01-0.89
0.06-0.00650.01690.04-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00700.00680.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30404648.551557010
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

spot153542.546.55157.517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 100K call contracts, 87K 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: CSX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk