Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:55 PM ET

INDV max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.47
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$39+13.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.7±19.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.10127 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$36largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$50Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $31

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$38+10.2%27d
Fri, Dec 18$35+1.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$42+21.8%83d
Fri, Feb 19$39+13.1%118d
Fri, Mar 19$37+7.3%146d
Fri, May 21$26-24.6%209d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot39253239465360$3M$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3925333741461K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INDV 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

spot39253337414611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot25323946536078%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 312533374146+$45K−$45K
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
0.86-0.01250.01730.04-0.01-0.13
0.75-0.01300.03310.06-0.01-0.24
0.72-0.01310.03670.07-0.01-0.28
0.68-0.01320.03980.07-0.01-0.32
0.63-0.01330.04220.07-0.01-0.37
0.59-0.01340.04350.08-0.01-0.41
0.55-0.01350.04390.08-0.01-0.46
0.51-0.01360.04350.08-0.02-0.50
0.47-0.01370.04250.08-0.02-0.54
0.43-0.02380.04110.08-0.02-0.57
0.40-0.02390.03940.08-0.02-0.61
0.37-0.02400.03770.07-0.02-0.64
0.35-0.02410.03600.07-0.02-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1826313642601K0
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

spot1022273339455K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: INDV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk