Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:49 PM ET

GOOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$314.71
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$330+4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.6±15.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.9919K puts / 20K calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3037.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.3Mper 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 30$330+4.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$335+6.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$340+8.0%18d
Fri, Nov 20$340+8.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$330+4.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$315+0.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$315+0.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$320+1.7%81d
Fri, Feb 19$330+4.9%116d
Fri, Mar 19$340+8.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$325+3.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330180250320390460530$273M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3301802302803303804602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GOOG 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

spot330180230280330380460314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot18025032039046053049%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot180230280330380460+$1.0M−$1.0M
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
0.78-0.072800.00480.53-0.08-0.23
0.75-0.082850.00510.57-0.09-0.26
0.72-0.082900.00540.60-0.09-0.29
0.69-0.092950.00570.63-0.10-0.32
0.66-0.093000.00600.65-0.10-0.35
0.63-0.103050.00620.67-0.10-0.38
0.60-0.103100.00630.69-0.10-0.41
0.56-0.103150.00650.70-0.10-0.45
0.53-0.103200.00650.70-0.11-0.48
0.50-0.103250.00660.71-0.11-0.51
0.47-0.103300.00660.70-0.10-0.55
0.44-0.103350.00650.70-0.10-0.58
0.41-0.103400.00640.69-0.10-0.61
0.38-0.103450.00630.68-0.10-0.64
0.35-0.093500.00620.66-0.10-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot200275312.5342.53754357K0
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

spot7518525031538045077K77K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 928K call contracts, 689K 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: GOOG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk