Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 12:13 AM ET

JMKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.23
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$17.5+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.88±28.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.461K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3054.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$17.5+1.6%20d
Fri, Nov 20$20+16.1%55d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5+1.6%146d
Fri, May 21$17.5+1.6%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5131722263135$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot17.512.517.522.530786786
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JMKE 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

spot17.512.517.522.5309494
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot13172226313574%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1512.517.522.530+$7K−$7K
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
0.86-0.0012.50.03360.03-0.01-0.15
0.73-0.01150.05300.04-0.01-0.28
0.57-0.0117.50.06710.04-0.01-0.44
0.41-0.01200.06880.04-0.01-0.61
0.28-0.0122.50.05980.04-0.01-0.76
0.18-0.01250.04700.03-0.01-0.87
0.08-0.00300.02560.02-0.00-0.99
0.04-0.00350.01370.01-0.00-1.00

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

spot12.517.522.5303K0
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

spot10152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 5K 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: JMKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk