Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:27 PM ET

SHLS max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.58
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$9+18.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.95±38.9% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.29398 puts / 309 calls
Call wall$6largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3099.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$609per 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$9+18.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$6-20.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$6-20.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$9+18.7%116d
Fri, Mar 19$7-7.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$7-7.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot94812162024$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot948121621165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHLS 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

spot94812162111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4812162024124%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4711141721+$741−$741
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
0.91-0.0040.03430.01-0.00-0.08
0.85-0.0050.05620.01-0.00-0.14
0.76-0.0160.07970.01-0.01-0.23
0.66-0.0170.09730.02-0.01-0.34
0.56-0.0180.10520.02-0.01-0.44
0.47-0.0190.10470.02-0.01-0.53
0.39-0.01100.09920.02-0.01-0.61
0.33-0.01110.09160.02-0.01-0.68
0.28-0.01120.08320.01-0.01-0.73
0.24-0.01130.07510.01-0.01-0.77
0.20-0.01140.06760.01-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.00150.06080.01-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 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

spot15913172312K0
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

spot15913172116K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 60K call contracts, 27K 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: SHLS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk