Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 29, 1:51 AM ET

FSV max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.54
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$160+13.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.15±16.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI9.37403 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3026.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$110Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$135-4.6%21d
Fri, Nov 20$85-39.9%84d
Fri, Feb 19$160+13.0%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16095115135155175195$2M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot16095110130155175195262262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FSV 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

spot1609511013015517519511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot9511513515517519551%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 12095110130155175195+$78K$78K
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
0.92-0.011000.00360.14-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.021050.00450.17-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.021100.00560.20-0.02-0.12
0.81-0.021200.00820.27-0.03-0.19
0.76-0.031250.00960.30-0.03-0.24
0.71-0.031300.01100.33-0.03-0.29
0.65-0.031350.01230.36-0.03-0.35
0.52-0.031450.01400.39-0.03-0.49
0.38-0.031550.01380.37-0.03-0.64
0.32-0.031600.01310.35-0.03-0.71
0.21-0.021700.01080.28-0.02-0.83
0.17-0.021750.00940.25-0.02-0.87
0.14-0.021800.00810.22-0.02-0.92
0.09-0.011900.00580.16-0.02-0.98
0.07-0.011950.00480.13-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851301451601751954100
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

spot85105125145165185410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 607 call contracts, 446 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: FSV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk