Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:48 AM ET

PVLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$126.3
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$95-24.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.05±23.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0510 puts / 221 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$185largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$120-5.0%28d
Fri, Dec 18$100-20.8%56d
Fri, Feb 19$95-24.8%119d
Fri, May 21$125-1.0%210d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot955592129166203240$2M$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot9555801101551802406060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PVLA 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

spot95558011015518024011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5592129166203240104%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 605590110150170190+$9K−$9K
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
0.94-0.01750.00230.08-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.02800.00290.10-0.03-0.07
0.88-0.03900.00450.14-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.03950.00540.16-0.04-0.14
0.82-0.041000.00640.19-0.04-0.18
0.79-0.041050.00740.21-0.05-0.21
0.74-0.051100.00850.23-0.05-0.26
0.53-0.061300.01100.29-0.06-0.47
0.43-0.061400.01090.28-0.06-0.58
0.38-0.061450.01060.28-0.05-0.63
0.34-0.051500.01020.27-0.05-0.67
0.30-0.051550.00960.25-0.05-0.71
0.26-0.051600.00900.24-0.05-0.75
0.23-0.041650.00830.22-0.04-0.79
0.20-0.041700.00770.21-0.04-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55901201451701953220
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

spot5585115145175210322322
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 80 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: PVLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk