Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 12:54 AM ET

PAGP max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.31
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$25-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.43±8.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.303K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$26largest call OI
Put wall$26largest put OI
IV3019.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$834Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $24

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$25-8.5%31d
Fri, Dec 18$26-4.8%59d
Fri, Jan 15$25-8.5%87d
Fri, Feb 19$25-8.5%122d
Fri, May 21$26-4.8%213d
Fri, Jan 21$22-19.4%458d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25182125283235$10M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot2518232629323K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAGP 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

spot2518232629323737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot18212427303355%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 242024273033+$270K−$270K
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
1.00—180.01000.01-0.00-0.02
1.00—200.00030.01-0.00-0.04
0.99—220.00990.00-0.00-0.09
0.98-0.00230.03560.01-0.00-0.12
0.93-0.00240.09000.02-0.00-0.18
0.82-0.01250.14150.04-0.00-0.27
0.67-0.01260.14520.05-0.01-0.39
0.53-0.01270.14140.06-0.01-0.52
0.40-0.01280.13360.06-0.00-0.64
0.28-0.00290.11350.05-0.00-0.74
0.20-0.00300.09010.04-0.00-0.81
0.14-0.00310.06910.04-0.00-0.86
0.10-0.00320.05240.03-0.00-0.90
0.07-0.00330.03940.02-0.00-0.93
0.04-0.00350.02270.010.00-0.96

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

spot15202326293232K0
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

spot3152025303544K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 123K call contracts, 37K 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: PAGP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk