Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:56 PM ET

KEYS max pain

Spot (delayed)$314.77
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$350+11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$67.05±21.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.83967 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3052.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$104Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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$330+4.8%27d
Fri, Dec 18$330+4.8%55d
Fri, Jan 15$330+4.8%83d
Fri, Feb 19$350+11.2%118d
Fri, May 21$340+8.0%209d
Fri, Jan 21$350+11.2%454d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350155236317398479560$16M$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot350155195260330400470263263
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEYS 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

spot3501551952603304004703030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15523631739847956069%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 210155200280350420490+$49K−$49K
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
0.86-0.082400.00230.39-0.09-0.14
0.83-0.092500.00270.45-0.10-0.17
0.80-0.102600.00310.50-0.11-0.20
0.77-0.112700.00340.55-0.12-0.23
0.73-0.122800.00380.60-0.13-0.28
0.68-0.132900.00410.64-0.13-0.32
0.64-0.143000.00430.67-0.14-0.36
0.59-0.143100.00450.69-0.14-0.41
0.55-0.143200.00460.71-0.15-0.46
0.50-0.143300.00470.72-0.15-0.50
0.46-0.143400.00470.71-0.15-0.55
0.41-0.143500.00460.70-0.14-0.60
0.37-0.133600.00450.68-0.14-0.64
0.34-0.133700.00440.66-0.13-0.68
0.30-0.123800.00420.62-0.13-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051602103003904802K0
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

spot1051501952803704602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 9K 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: KEYS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk