Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:20 PM ET

ECO max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.29
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$65+7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.95±26.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.832K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3035.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$83Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$65+7.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$75+24.4%33d
Fri, Nov 20$75+24.4%96d
Fri, Feb 19$65+7.8%187d
Fri, May 21$65+7.8%278d
Fri, Sep 17$65+7.8%397d
Fri, Dec 17$65+7.8%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65304254667890$5M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot6530456075901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ECO 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

spot65304560759011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot30425466789094%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 653045607590+$75K$75K
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
0.96-0.01300.00330.04-0.02-0.10
0.94-0.01350.00510.05-0.02-0.12
0.91-0.01400.00770.07-0.02-0.16
0.86-0.01450.01160.09-0.02-0.21
0.80-0.02500.01700.11-0.02-0.29
0.70-0.02550.02360.14-0.02-0.39
0.57-0.02600.02760.15-0.02-0.51
0.45-0.02650.02590.16-0.02-0.62
0.36-0.02700.02220.15-0.02-0.69
0.30-0.02750.01880.14-0.02-0.74
0.26-0.02800.01610.13-0.01-0.77
0.23-0.02850.01410.12-0.01-0.80
0.21-0.02900.01250.12-0.01-0.81

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

spot30405565756780
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

spot25405570853K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 8K 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: ECO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk