Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 2:02 PM ET

PDFS max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.82
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$30-35.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.1±40.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.4523 puts / 51 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3076.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$40-14.6%2d
Fri, Sep 18$50+6.8%30d
Fri, Nov 20$40-14.6%93d
Fri, Feb 19$30-35.9%184d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30233446576980$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3022.5354560701818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PDFS 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

spot3022.53545607011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot23344657698080%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 3522.535456070+$600$600
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
0.96-0.0022.50.00390.04-0.01-0.05
0.89-0.01300.00810.07-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.01350.01100.09-0.02-0.19
0.74-0.02400.01350.11-0.02-0.27
0.66-0.02450.01520.12-0.02-0.35
0.59-0.03500.01610.13-0.03-0.43
0.45-0.03600.01610.13-0.03-0.57
0.39-0.03650.01550.13-0.02-0.64
0.34-0.02700.01470.12-0.02-0.69
0.26-0.02800.01280.11-0.02-0.78

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

spot1530456075901K0
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

spot15254565851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 596 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: PDFS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk