Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:02 AM ET

DEFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.48
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$0.5+4.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 481 calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
IV30129.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$94per 1% move

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$0.5+4.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$0.5+4.9%32d
Fri, Nov 20$0.5+4.9%95d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5+4.9%151d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5+4.9%186d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5+4.9%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112334$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot0.50.51.5234394394
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DEFT 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

spot0.50.51.523444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot112334465%109%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 292.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.710.000.50.91070.000.00-0.35
0.48-0.001.50.64180.00-0.00-0.59
0.46-0.0020.58210.00-0.00-0.62
0.43-0.0030.51560.00-0.00-0.66
0.41-0.0040.47770.00-0.00-0.68

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

spot0.511.52343K0
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

spot0.51.53520K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 72K call contracts, 4K 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: DEFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk