Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 10:24 AM ET

SGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$66.76
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$65-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16±24.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.561K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$95largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
Net GEX+$40Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$65-2.6%5d
Fri, Oct 16$70+4.9%33d
Fri, Nov 20$70+4.9%68d
Fri, Dec 18$65-2.6%96d
Fri, Jan 15$65-2.6%124d
Fri, Feb 19$65-2.6%159d
Fri, Mar 19$65-2.6%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot65355779101123145$12M$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot65355575951151351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SGI 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

spot653555759511513511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot35577910112314565%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 4535557595115135+$58K$58K
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
0.97-0.01350.00280.04-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01400.00450.05-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01450.00690.07-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.01500.00990.10-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02550.01320.13-0.02-0.21
0.72-0.02600.01660.15-0.02-0.29
0.62-0.02650.01910.17-0.02-0.39
0.52-0.02700.02040.18-0.03-0.49
0.43-0.02750.02030.17-0.02-0.59
0.34-0.02800.01900.16-0.02-0.68
0.27-0.02850.01700.15-0.02-0.76
0.21-0.02900.01480.13-0.02-0.82
0.17-0.01950.01260.11-0.02-0.88
0.14-0.011000.01070.10-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4065759011013018K0
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

spot254055709012019K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 52K call contracts, 5K 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: SGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk