Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:39 PM ET

PSIX max pain

Spot (delayed)$40
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$25-37.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.15±50.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.09119 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3079.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move

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+0.0%6d
Fri, Sep 18$35-12.5%34d
Fri, Nov 20$35-12.5%97d
Fri, Feb 19$25-37.5%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25152433425160$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot25152025354555421421
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PSIX 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

spot2515202535455522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot152433425160117%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot152025354555+$6K$6K
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
0.98-0.00150.00270.02-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.0117.50.00390.03-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01200.00530.04-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.0122.50.00660.05-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01250.00800.06-0.02-0.14
0.81-0.02300.01050.08-0.02-0.21
0.73-0.02350.01240.10-0.02-0.28
0.66-0.03400.01380.11-0.03-0.35
0.59-0.03450.01470.12-0.03-0.42
0.53-0.03500.01510.12-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.03550.01510.12-0.03-0.55
0.42-0.03600.01480.12-0.03-0.61

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

spot17.535608511013510K0
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

spot1530558010513010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 22K call contracts, 6K 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: PSIX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk