Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:03 PM ET

FDS max pain

Spot (delayed)$331.32
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$300-9.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$64.2±19.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.05305 puts / 291 calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3043.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $370

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$290-12.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$270-18.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.4%83d
Fri, Feb 19$300-9.5%118d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.4%146d
Thu, Jun 17$220-33.6%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300130194258322386450$4M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot300130170230280330390154154
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FDS 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

spot30013017023028033039011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot130194258322386450101%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 370130170230280330390+$83K−$83K
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
0.86-0.082600.00250.42-0.08-0.14
0.83-0.092700.00290.48-0.09-0.17
0.80-0.102800.00330.54-0.10-0.21
0.76-0.112900.00370.59-0.11-0.25
0.71-0.123000.00410.64-0.12-0.29
0.67-0.123100.00440.68-0.13-0.34
0.62-0.133200.00470.72-0.13-0.38
0.57-0.133300.00490.74-0.14-0.43
0.53-0.133400.00500.75-0.14-0.48
0.48-0.133500.00500.75-0.14-0.54
0.39-0.133700.00490.72-0.13-0.63
0.34-0.123800.00470.69-0.13-0.68
0.30-0.123900.00440.66-0.12-0.72
0.27-0.114000.00420.62-0.11-0.75
0.18-0.094300.00330.50-0.09-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051902403003604204450
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 7K 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: FDS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk