Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:17 AM ET

FCNCA max pain

Spot (delayed)$2,376
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$2,100-11.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$287.4±12.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.79160 puts / 203 calls
Call wall$3,000largest call OI
Put wall$2,000largest put OI
IV3025.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$413Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1,700

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$2,160-9.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$1,900-20.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$2,100-11.6%116d
Fri, May 21$2,210-7.0%207d
Fri, Aug 20$1,800-24.2%298d
Fri, Nov 19$1,360-42.8%389d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2100120016202040246028803300$16M$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 — 2100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot21001200156019202120226025005151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCNCA 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

spot21001200156019202120226025002525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12001620204024602880330055%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1700150018802100220024203100+$115K−$115K
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
0.73-0.5222200.00094.51-0.54-0.28
0.71-0.5322400.00094.66-0.55-0.30
0.69-0.5422600.00104.79-0.56-0.32
0.67-0.5522800.00104.91-0.58-0.34
0.65-0.5623000.00105.03-0.59-0.36
0.63-0.5723200.00105.12-0.60-0.38
0.61-0.5723400.00115.21-0.61-0.40
0.57-0.5823800.00115.34-0.62-0.45
0.52-0.5824200.00115.41-0.62-0.50
0.50-0.5824400.00125.42-0.63-0.52
0.48-0.5824600.00125.41-0.62-0.55
0.43-0.5725000.00115.34-0.62-0.59
0.33-0.5226000.00114.93-0.57-0.71
0.24-0.4527000.00094.26-0.52-0.81
0.12-0.2929000.00062.79-0.43-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 53 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot98017701960211022402460610
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

spot98014201800204022102440152152
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 894 call contracts, 779 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: FCNCA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk