Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 11:09 PM ET

DBMF max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.5
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$27-16.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.2712 puts / 44 calls
Call wall$31largest call OI
Put wall$28largest put OI
IV3017.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $28

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$29-10.8%21d
Fri, Dec 18$33+1.5%49d
Fri, Feb 19$27-16.9%112d
Fri, May 21$25-23.1%203d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27252831343740$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot2725272931361818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBMF 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

spot27252729313611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot25283134374066%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 282527293136+$2K−$2K
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
0.90-0.00250.02470.03-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.00260.02980.04-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.00270.03640.04-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01280.04500.04-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.01290.05650.05-0.01-0.19
0.75-0.01300.07180.06-0.01-0.24
0.69-0.01310.09120.06-0.01-0.30
0.48-0.01330.11550.07-0.01-0.51
0.26-0.01360.07190.06-0.01-0.73
0.16-0.01400.03960.04-0.01-0.83

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

spot25283135402060
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

spot222630343842206206
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 802 call contracts, 156 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: DBMF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk