Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 3:31 AM ET

JJSF max pain

Spot (delayed)$77.97
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$70-10.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.7±16.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.6526 puts / 40 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3030.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90
Earnings · expectedMon, Nov 16usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$80+2.6%25d
Fri, Nov 20$75-3.8%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Mon, Nov 16)
Fri, Feb 19$70-10.2%151d
Fri, May 21$60-23.0%242d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot704052647688100$1M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot7040556580902626
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JJSF 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

spot70405565809011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot405264768810069%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 904055658090+$4K$4K
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
0.98-0.00400.00190.03-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.01450.00300.04-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.01550.00690.08-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01600.00990.10-0.01-0.13
0.82-0.02650.01380.13-0.02-0.19
0.74-0.02700.01840.16-0.02-0.27
0.52-0.02800.02610.20-0.02-0.50
0.39-0.02850.02600.19-0.02-0.64
0.28-0.02900.02290.17-0.02-0.75
0.14-0.011000.01460.12-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot708090100400
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

spot4060801001204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89 call contracts, 124 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: JJSF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk