Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:28 PM ET

EEFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.95
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$35-45.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.55±19.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0657 puts / 946 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3044.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57Kper 1% move

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$70+9.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$65+1.6%53d
Fri, Feb 19$35-45.3%116d
Fri, May 21$50-21.8%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot353549637791105$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3535506580100679679
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EEFT 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

spot353550658010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot354963779110573%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot35557090105+$48K−$48K
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
0.96-0.01350.00340.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01400.00530.04-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01450.00820.06-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.02500.01230.08-0.02-0.15
0.79-0.02550.01750.11-0.02-0.22
0.68-0.02600.02280.13-0.03-0.33
0.56-0.03650.02610.14-0.03-0.46
0.43-0.03700.02600.14-0.03-0.59
0.33-0.02750.02330.13-0.03-0.70
0.25-0.02800.01970.12-0.02-0.79
0.15-0.02900.01340.09-0.02-0.90
0.12-0.02950.01110.07-0.02-0.94
0.10-0.011000.00920.06-0.01-0.96
0.08-0.011050.00780.06-0.01-0.98

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

spot355575951157330
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

spot355575951151K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K 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: EEFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk