Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:59 PM ET

ROP max pain

Spot (delayed)$437
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$380-13.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$62.8±14.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.76271 puts / 358 calls
Call wall$440largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3029.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$131Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$380-13.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$410-6.2%53d
Fri, Feb 19$380-13.0%116d
Fri, May 21$350-19.9%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380190260330400470540$5M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3801902803404004605407171
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROP 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

spot38019028034040046054022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot19026033040047054087%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 200190280340400460540+$55K−$55K
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
0.84-0.093700.00280.61-0.09-0.16
0.81-0.103800.00320.68-0.10-0.19
0.77-0.103900.00360.75-0.11-0.23
0.73-0.114000.00400.82-0.11-0.27
0.69-0.124100.00440.88-0.12-0.31
0.65-0.124200.00470.93-0.13-0.36
0.60-0.134300.00490.96-0.13-0.41
0.55-0.134400.00510.99-0.13-0.46
0.50-0.134500.00520.99-0.13-0.51
0.45-0.134600.00520.98-0.13-0.56
0.40-0.124700.00500.96-0.13-0.61
0.35-0.124800.00480.93-0.12-0.66
0.31-0.114900.00460.88-0.12-0.70
0.27-0.115000.00430.83-0.11-0.75
0.21-0.095200.00370.72-0.10-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2002803604305005803690
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

spot185250330410490580371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: ROP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk