Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 7:23 PM ET

LDOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$133.9
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$110-17.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.75±22.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI2.69250 puts / 93 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3034.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · 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, Aug 21$110-17.8%15d
Fri, Sep 18$115-14.1%43d
Fri, Nov 20$115-14.1%106d
Fri, Dec 18$110-17.8%134d
Fri, Jan 15$105-21.6%162d
Fri, Feb 19$110-17.8%197d
Fri, May 21$100-25.3%288d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1106081102123144165$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1106080105125145165205205
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LDOS 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

spot11060801051251451651010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot608110212314416558%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot6080105125145165+$18K$18K
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
0.88-0.021000.00490.21-0.02-0.13
0.84-0.021050.00580.24-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.031100.00680.27-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.031150.00770.30-0.03-0.24
0.73-0.031200.00860.33-0.03-0.28
0.68-0.031250.00940.35-0.04-0.33
0.63-0.031300.01010.37-0.04-0.39
0.58-0.041350.01060.39-0.04-0.44
0.52-0.041400.01090.39-0.04-0.49
0.47-0.041450.01100.39-0.04-0.55
0.42-0.041500.01090.38-0.04-0.61
0.37-0.031550.01060.37-0.03-0.66
0.33-0.031600.01010.35-0.03-0.71
0.29-0.031650.00960.34-0.03-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751101401702002606320
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

spot55901251601952602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K 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: LDOS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk