Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:14 AM ET

FCX max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.9
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$70+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.33±20.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.0510K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3047.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$42Kper 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, Oct 23$73+6.0%1d
Fri, Oct 30$72+4.5%8d
Fri, Nov 6$70+1.6%15d
Fri, Nov 13$70+1.6%22d
Fri, Nov 20$65-5.7%29d
Fri, Nov 27$70+1.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$60-12.9%57d
Fri, Jan 15$60-12.9%85d
Fri, Feb 19$70+1.6%120d
Fri, Mar 19$65-5.7%148d
Fri, Apr 16$62.5-9.3%176d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7030486684102120$31M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot703047.56577.5901154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCX 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

spot703047.56577.5901153030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3048668410212081%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3047.56577.590115+$341K−$341K
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
0.94-0.0047.50.00650.05-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01500.00840.06-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01550.01290.09-0.02-0.15
0.76-0.02600.01730.12-0.02-0.24
0.71-0.0262.50.01920.14-0.03-0.29
0.66-0.02650.02070.15-0.03-0.35
0.60-0.0367.50.02180.15-0.03-0.40
0.55-0.03700.02250.16-0.03-0.46
0.49-0.0372.50.02260.16-0.03-0.52
0.44-0.03750.02240.16-0.03-0.57
0.39-0.0377.50.02180.15-0.03-0.62
0.34-0.03800.02090.15-0.02-0.67
0.30-0.0282.50.01970.14-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.02850.01840.13-0.02-0.76
0.23-0.0287.50.01700.12-0.02-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4562697683903K0
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

spot15426170798855K55K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 443K call contracts, 471K 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: FCX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk