Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 8:21 PM ET

MKSI max pain

Spot (delayed)$235.5
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$270+14.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$62.8±26.7% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.21240 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$490largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3060.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$103Kper 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, Oct 16$230-2.3%2d
Fri, Nov 20$240+1.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$280+18.9%65d
Fri, Jan 15$260+10.4%93d
Fri, Feb 19$270+14.6%128d
Fri, Apr 16$240+1.9%184d
Fri, May 21$220-6.6%219d
Fri, Aug 20$210-10.8%310d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot270125224323422521620$25M$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 — 270 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot270125165240320400580324324
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MKSI 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

spot2701251652403204005801111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12522432342252162078%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 270125160230300370460+$40K−$40K
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
0.85-0.061750.00280.32-0.07-0.15
0.81-0.071850.00320.37-0.09-0.19
0.80-0.081900.00350.40-0.09-0.21
0.77-0.081950.00370.42-0.09-0.23
0.75-0.092000.00390.44-0.10-0.25
0.66-0.102200.00460.51-0.11-0.35
0.61-0.112300.00480.53-0.12-0.40
0.56-0.112400.00500.55-0.12-0.45
0.51-0.122500.00510.55-0.12-0.50
0.47-0.122600.00500.55-0.12-0.55
0.42-0.122700.00500.54-0.11-0.59
0.38-0.112800.00480.53-0.11-0.64
0.34-0.112900.00460.51-0.10-0.68
0.31-0.103000.00440.49-0.10-0.71
0.27-0.103100.00420.46-0.09-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101602103003904809970
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

spot1101602203204205401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 6K 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: MKSI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk