Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:21 AM ET

OKLL max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.57
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$12+162.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.7±81.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.651K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV30159.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$779per 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$8+75.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$5+9.4%54d
Fri, Feb 19$12+162.6%117d
Fri, May 21$7+53.2%208d
Fri, Jan 21$6+31.3%453d
Fri, Jan 19$5+9.4%817d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot124811151822$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot124710131619681681
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OKLL 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

spot12471013161911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4811151822215%123%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 175.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4710131619+$259−$259
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
0.69-0.0140.08810.01-0.01-0.28
0.60-0.0150.09460.01-0.01-0.36
0.53-0.0160.09380.01-0.01-0.43
0.48-0.0170.09040.01-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.0180.08650.01-0.01-0.52
0.40-0.0190.08250.01-0.01-0.56
0.37-0.01100.07890.01-0.01-0.58
0.35-0.01110.07550.01-0.01-0.61
0.33-0.01120.07240.01-0.01-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot371115197450
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

spot159131721745745
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K 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: OKLL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk