Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:57 PM ET

SA max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.17
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$23-28.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.65±39.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.1179 puts / 720 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3067.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 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$27-16.1%7d
Fri, Sep 18$27-16.1%35d
Fri, Nov 20$20-37.8%98d
Fri, Jan 15$23-28.5%154d
Fri, Feb 19$23-28.5%189d
Fri, Jan 21$15-53.4%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23152127333945$1M$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 — 23 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot231522263035203203
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SA 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

spot23152226303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15212733394572%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1522263035+$4K$4K
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
0.81-0.01240.01670.06-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01250.01790.07-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01260.01900.07-0.01-0.24
0.73-0.01270.01990.07-0.01-0.26
0.71-0.01280.02080.08-0.01-0.29
0.69-0.01290.02160.08-0.01-0.31
0.66-0.01300.02220.08-0.01-0.34
0.62-0.01320.02320.09-0.02-0.38
0.59-0.02330.02350.09-0.02-0.41
0.57-0.02340.02370.09-0.02-0.43
0.55-0.02350.02390.09-0.02-0.45
0.45-0.02400.02360.09-0.02-0.56
0.36-0.02450.02220.09-0.02-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1521263136458K0
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

spot1521263136428K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K 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: SA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk