Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:25 PM ET

RMBS max pain

Spot (delayed)$84
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$100+19.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.65±32.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.042K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3081.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$17Kper 1% move

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$100+19.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$95+13.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$95+13.1%81d
Fri, Feb 19$100+19.0%116d
Fri, May 21$110+31.0%207d
Fri, Jan 21$97.5+16.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1004576107138169200$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1004575105135165195572572
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RMBS 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

spot100457510513516519588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot457610713816920084%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4575105135165195+$42K−$42K
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
0.94-0.01500.00280.06-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.02550.00380.08-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.03600.00500.10-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.03650.00620.12-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.04700.00740.14-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.05750.00850.16-0.05-0.24
0.71-0.05800.00940.18-0.05-0.30
0.66-0.06850.01020.19-0.06-0.35
0.60-0.06900.01080.20-0.06-0.41
0.55-0.06950.01110.20-0.06-0.46
0.49-0.061000.01120.20-0.06-0.52
0.45-0.061050.01110.20-0.06-0.57
0.40-0.061100.01090.20-0.06-0.61
0.36-0.061150.01050.19-0.06-0.66
0.32-0.051200.01000.18-0.05-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4575951251601951K0
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

spot4575951251601952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 13K 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: RMBS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk