Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:17 AM ET

DKL max pain

Spot (delayed)$57.32
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$55-4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.8±11.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.621K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3027.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$167Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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, Nov 20$55-4.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$55-4.0%54d
Fri, Feb 19$55-4.0%117d
Fri, May 21$50-12.8%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55253545556575$3M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot552540506070815815
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DKL 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

spot55254050607011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot25354555657568%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 552540506070+$143K−$143K
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
1.00—250.00120.01-0.00-0.01
1.00—350.00010.00-0.00-0.03
1.00-0.00400.00150.00-0.01-0.06
0.97-0.01450.01170.01-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.01500.04160.07-0.01-0.23
0.62-0.01550.05350.12-0.01-0.44
0.37-0.01600.04840.12-0.01-0.67
0.20-0.01650.03320.09-0.01-0.82
0.11-0.01700.02080.06-0.01-0.89
0.07-0.01750.01310.04-0.01-0.93

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

spot30455565752K0
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

spot25405570852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 2K 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: DKL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk