Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET

ECH max pain

Spot (delayed)$35.86
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$39
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-02-19 expiration, over 24 strikes carrying 10,840 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-02-19 expiration = 5.10 USD, 14.2% of 35.86 spot.
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±14.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.04
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
How376 put contracts / 10,464 call contracts = 0.04 for the 2027-02-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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376 puts / 10K calls
Call wall$40
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
How40.00 for the 2027-02-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest call OI
Put wall$43
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
How43.00 for the 2027-02-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3034.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$561K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:18 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-02-19 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
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per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$38+6.0%10d
Fri, Dec 18$30-16.3%38d
Fri, Feb 19$39+8.8%101d
Fri, May 21$29-19.1%192d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot39253137434955$13M$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot392533374145495K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ECH 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

spot3925404555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot25313743495561%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot253337414549+$334K−$334K
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
0.89-0.01250.01570.04-0.01-0.11
0.80-0.01300.03190.05-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01310.03720.06-0.01-0.22
0.74-0.01320.04340.06-0.01-0.25
0.70-0.01330.05050.06-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01340.05800.07-0.01-0.34
0.59-0.01350.06440.07-0.01-0.40
0.53-0.01360.06770.07-0.01-0.47
0.46-0.01370.06690.07-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01380.06300.07-0.01-0.60
0.36-0.01390.05780.07-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01400.05240.07-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.01410.04750.06-0.01-0.72
0.26-0.01420.04320.06-0.01-0.74
0.24-0.01430.03940.06-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25323640444811K0
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

spot25313641465111K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 6K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: ECH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk