Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 8:24 PM ET

LH max pain

Spot (delayed)$323.13
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$290-10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38±11.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.1166 puts / 614 calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3029.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$448Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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$310-4.1%31d
Fri, Dec 18$310-4.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$290-10.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$290-10.3%122d
Fri, Mar 19$300-7.2%150d
Fri, May 21$330+2.1%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290160218276334392450$8M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot290160220270310350400266266
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LH 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

spot29016022027031035040011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot16021827633439245057%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 270160220280320360410+$231K−$231K
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
0.94-0.022500.00200.23-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.032600.00270.29-0.04-0.08
0.89-0.042700.00350.36-0.04-0.11
0.85-0.042800.00450.44-0.05-0.15
0.80-0.052900.00560.53-0.06-0.20
0.73-0.063000.00670.61-0.07-0.27
0.66-0.073100.00760.68-0.07-0.34
0.58-0.073200.00830.72-0.08-0.43
0.50-0.073300.00860.74-0.08-0.52
0.42-0.073400.00840.73-0.07-0.60
0.34-0.073500.00790.68-0.07-0.68
0.27-0.063600.00710.62-0.06-0.76
0.22-0.063700.00620.55-0.05-0.81
0.17-0.053800.00530.48-0.05-0.86
0.11-0.044000.00370.35-0.04-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1702202703203704202110
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

spot150185240310380450783783
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: LH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk