Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 12:27 AM ET

CTO max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.71
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$20+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.9±9.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.2555 puts / 223 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3022.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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 20$22.5+14.2%19d
Fri, Dec 18$20+1.5%47d
Fri, Feb 19$20+1.5%110d
Fri, May 21$17.5-11.2%201d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20151821242730$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot201517.52022.52530162162
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CTO 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

spot201517.52022.5253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15182124273049%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 201517.52022.52530+$10K−$10K
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
0.90-0.00150.04000.02-0.00-0.12
0.80-0.0017.50.09180.03-0.00-0.22
0.49-0.00200.18680.04-0.00-0.57
0.22-0.0022.50.10220.03-0.00-0.84
0.14-0.00250.05870.02-0.00-0.91
0.09-0.00300.02930.02-0.00-0.95

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

spot17.52022.525302520
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530272272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 555 call contracts, 327 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: CTO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk