Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 9:28 AM ET

NOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$148.2
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$135-8.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.85±24.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.898K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3062.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$761Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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 23$142-4.2%2d
Fri, Oct 30$139-6.2%9d
Fri, Nov 6$140-5.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$140-5.5%23d
Fri, Nov 20$130-12.3%30d
Fri, Nov 27$140-5.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$124-16.3%58d
Fri, Jan 15$125-15.7%86d
Fri, Feb 19$135-8.9%121d
Fri, Mar 19$115-22.4%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1355082114146178210$53M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot13550801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOW 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

spot13550801101401702001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot508211414617821083%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1405080110140170200+$297K−$297K
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
0.85-0.041150.00490.20-0.05-0.15
0.82-0.051200.00560.23-0.05-0.19
0.78-0.051250.00620.26-0.06-0.22
0.74-0.061300.00680.28-0.06-0.26
0.70-0.061350.00740.30-0.07-0.30
0.66-0.071400.00780.32-0.07-0.34
0.62-0.071450.00820.33-0.07-0.39
0.58-0.071500.00840.34-0.07-0.43
0.54-0.071550.00860.34-0.07-0.47
0.50-0.071600.00860.34-0.07-0.51
0.46-0.071650.00860.34-0.07-0.56
0.42-0.071700.00840.34-0.07-0.59
0.38-0.071750.00820.33-0.07-0.63
0.35-0.071800.00800.32-0.07-0.67
0.32-0.071850.00770.31-0.07-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701151271381491806K0
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

spot459212014417224446K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 569K call contracts, 504K 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: NOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk