Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:14 PM ET

CTAS max pain

Spot (delayed)$225.89
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$200-11.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.65±11.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.27215 puts / 786 calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$378Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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$205-9.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$210-7.0%11d
Fri, Nov 13$205-9.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$200-11.5%25d
Fri, Nov 27$210-7.0%32d
Fri, Dec 4$230+1.8%39d
Fri, Dec 18$175-22.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$190-15.9%81d
Fri, Feb 19$200-11.5%116d
Fri, Mar 19$195-13.7%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20095130165200235270$2M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot20095160180210250461461
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CTAS 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

spot2009516018021025011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot9513016520023527080%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 23095160180210250+$252K−$252K
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
0.93-0.021750.00310.17-0.02-0.07
0.92-0.021800.00370.20-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.031900.00530.26-0.03-0.13
0.85-0.031950.00630.30-0.04-0.15
0.82-0.042000.00740.34-0.04-0.19
0.73-0.042100.00980.42-0.05-0.27
0.63-0.052200.01180.48-0.05-0.38
0.50-0.052300.01280.50-0.05-0.51
0.38-0.052400.01240.48-0.05-0.64
0.27-0.042500.01070.42-0.04-0.76
0.19-0.042600.00870.35-0.04-0.84
0.13-0.032700.00670.28-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot190202.5212.5222.5232.5560
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

spot851351802052302654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 14K 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: CTAS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk