Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:27 PM ET

ETOR max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.56
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$30+27.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.45±23.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.84862 puts / 468 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3055.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$25+6.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$30+27.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$35+48.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$30+27.3%116d
Fri, Mar 19$30+27.3%144d
Fri, Apr 16$25+6.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152229364350$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot301522.5273550353353
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ETOR 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

spot301522.527355011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15222936435082%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 22.517.5253040+$7K−$7K
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
0.93-0.00150.01620.02-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.0117.50.02710.03-0.01-0.14
0.65-0.0122.50.05410.05-0.01-0.36
0.51-0.01250.05930.05-0.01-0.51
0.40-0.01270.05700.05-0.01-0.62
0.28-0.01300.04780.04-0.01-0.75
0.16-0.01350.03210.03-0.01-0.88
0.10-0.01400.02160.02-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.00500.01110.01-0.00-1.00

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

spot15242835556K0
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

spot1521263035557K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 11K 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: ETOR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk