Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 6:14 AM ET

JXN max pain

Spot (delayed)$138.12
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$125-9.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.35±18.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.5119 puts / 37 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $130

Event risk before this expiration: 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$130-5.9%5d
Fri, Oct 16$135-2.3%33d
Fri, Nov 20$110-20.4%68d
Fri, Dec 18$100-27.6%96d
Fri, Jan 15$130-5.9%124d
Fri, Feb 19$125-9.5%159d
Fri, Mar 19$105-24.0%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1257093116139162185$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12570851001351701851313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JXN 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

spot125708510013517018511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot709311613916218563%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1307085100135170185+$2K$2K
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
0.96-0.01850.00210.08-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01900.00280.10-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.02950.00360.13-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.021000.00440.16-0.02-0.10
0.71-0.041250.01010.31-0.04-0.29
0.66-0.041300.01120.33-0.04-0.35
0.60-0.041350.01210.35-0.04-0.41
0.54-0.041400.01270.36-0.04-0.48
0.41-0.041500.01300.35-0.04-0.61
0.19-0.021700.00970.25-0.03-0.84
0.15-0.021750.00850.21-0.02-0.90
0.12-0.021800.00720.18-0.02-0.94
0.09-0.011850.00600.15-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot60901101301501702930
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

spot55801051301551805K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 24K 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: JXN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk