Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:14 AM ET

MTRX max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.71
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$7.5-22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.78±28.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0132 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3057.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$37Kper 1% move

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$12.5+28.7%25d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-22.8%116d
Fri, May 21$10+3.0%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.581013151820$3M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot7.57.51012.51517.5202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTRX 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

spot7.57.51012.51517.5202020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot81013151820105%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot7.51012.51517.520+$29K−$29K
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
0.82-0.017.50.06780.01-0.01-0.19
0.55-0.01100.14570.02-0.01-0.47
0.29-0.0012.50.11090.02-0.01-0.75
0.19-0.00150.07300.01-0.01-0.85
0.15-0.0017.50.05360.01-0.01-0.89
0.12-0.00200.04240.01-0.01-0.92

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

spot51015203K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 221 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: MTRX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk