Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:08 AM ET

LWAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.46
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$17.5-22.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.88±21.7% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0115 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3054.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

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$25+11.3%25d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5-22.1%116d
Fri, May 21$22.5+0.2%207d
Fri, Dec 17$20-11.0%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5152127333945$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot17.515202535452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LWAY 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

spot17.5152025354511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15212733394593%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 22.51520253545+$15K−$15K
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
0.88-0.01150.02240.02-0.01-0.11
0.81-0.0117.50.03480.03-0.01-0.19
0.69-0.01200.04920.04-0.01-0.30
0.55-0.0122.50.05890.05-0.01-0.44
0.41-0.01250.05820.05-0.01-0.58
0.23-0.01300.04150.04-0.01-0.77
0.14-0.01350.02750.03-0.01-0.86
0.09-0.01400.01900.02-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01450.01380.02-0.01-0.94

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

spot1522.530402K0
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

spot12.517.522.530402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 29 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: LWAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk