Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 12:59 PM ET

FRO max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.99
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$48+20.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.05±27.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI3.902K puts / 593 calls
Call wall$38largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$40Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$40+0.0%14d
Fri, Sep 18$37-7.5%42d
Fri, Nov 20$42+5.0%105d
Fri, Jan 15$35-12.5%161d
Fri, Feb 19$48+20.0%196d
Fri, Jan 21$30-25.0%532d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot48202836445260$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot48203236404448511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FRO 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

spot4820323640444844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot20283644526093%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot203236404448+$18K$18K
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
0.74-0.02330.03530.08-0.01-0.30
0.70-0.02340.03560.09-0.01-0.33
0.66-0.02350.03530.09-0.01-0.35
0.62-0.02360.03500.10-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.02370.03440.10-0.01-0.41
0.55-0.02380.03370.10-0.01-0.43
0.51-0.02390.03280.10-0.01-0.46
0.48-0.02400.03200.10-0.01-0.48
0.45-0.01410.03110.10-0.01-0.51
0.42-0.01420.03020.10-0.01-0.53
0.40-0.01430.02930.10-0.01-0.56
0.37-0.01440.02830.10-0.01-0.58
0.35-0.01450.02740.10-0.01-0.60
0.32-0.01460.02640.10-0.01-0.62
0.30-0.01470.02540.10-0.01-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20263136414611K0
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

spot13202734414816K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 67K call contracts, 68K 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: FRO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk