Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:18 AM ET

QS max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.02
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$5+24.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.33±33.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.324K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV3071.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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, Oct 30$4-0.5%5d
Fri, Nov 6$4-0.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$0.5-87.6%19d
Fri, Nov 20$4-0.5%26d
Fri, Nov 27$0.5-87.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$0.5-87.6%40d
Fri, Dec 18$5+24.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$5+24.4%82d
Fri, Feb 19$5+24.4%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot514791215$8M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot514710133K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QS 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

spot51471013110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot14791215213%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 21471013+$8K−$8K
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
0.99-0.0010.01230.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0020.04720.00-0.00-0.05
0.84-0.0030.14890.01-0.00-0.17
0.61-0.0040.22620.01-0.00-0.40
0.42-0.0050.21890.01-0.00-0.60
0.29-0.0060.18010.01-0.00-0.73
0.21-0.0070.14240.01-0.00-0.82
0.16-0.0080.11390.01-0.00-0.87
0.13-0.0090.09340.01-0.00-0.91
0.11-0.00100.07840.00-0.00-0.93
0.09-0.00110.06720.00-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.55K0
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

spot0.53.56.59.5153093K93K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 560K call contracts, 132K 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: QS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk