Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 12:53 AM ET

SBLK max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.86
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$35+25.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±16.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI12.833K puts / 240 calls
Call wall$36largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3037.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$92Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $31

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$30+7.7%31d
Fri, Dec 18$27-3.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$31+11.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$35+25.6%122d
Fri, May 21$40+43.6%213d
Thu, Jun 17$22-21.0%240d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35192327323640$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3519232731352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SBLK 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

spot35192327313544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot19232732364057%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 311923273135+$47K−$47K
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
0.93-0.00210.02480.02-0.01-0.13
0.91-0.01220.03340.03-0.01-0.16
0.87-0.01230.04400.03-0.01-0.20
0.82-0.01240.05600.04-0.01-0.25
0.76-0.01250.06820.04-0.01-0.30
0.69-0.01260.07820.05-0.01-0.37
0.60-0.01270.08370.06-0.01-0.44
0.52-0.01280.08400.06-0.01-0.51
0.43-0.01290.07990.06-0.01-0.58
0.36-0.01300.07330.06-0.01-0.65
0.30-0.01310.06580.05-0.01-0.70
0.25-0.01320.05840.05-0.01-0.75
0.21-0.01330.05140.05-0.01-0.79
0.18-0.01340.04510.04-0.01-0.82
0.15-0.01350.03940.04-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10202630343817K0
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

spot3152127333918K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 28K 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: SBLK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk