Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:29 PM ET

SITM max pain

Spot (delayed)$460.55
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$540+17.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$174±37.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.10953 puts / 867 calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$540largest put OI
IV30102.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$92Kper 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$560+21.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$700+52.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$540+17.3%116d
Fri, May 21$490+6.4%207d
Fri, Dec 17$540+17.3%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5402404125847569281100$29M$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 — 540 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot540240340460580680860155155
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SITM 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

spot54024034046058068086055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot240412584756928110095%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot240340460580700880+$59K−$59K
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
0.75-0.303800.00140.84-0.30-0.25
0.73-0.313900.00150.87-0.31-0.27
0.72-0.324000.00150.90-0.32-0.29
0.70-0.334100.00160.92-0.33-0.31
0.66-0.344300.00170.96-0.35-0.34
0.65-0.354400.00170.98-0.35-0.36
0.63-0.354500.00171.00-0.36-0.38
0.61-0.354600.00181.01-0.36-0.40
0.59-0.364700.00181.02-0.37-0.41
0.57-0.364800.00181.03-0.37-0.43
0.56-0.364900.00181.04-0.37-0.45
0.54-0.375000.00181.04-0.37-0.47
0.51-0.375200.00181.05-0.38-0.50
0.48-0.375400.00181.05-0.38-0.53
0.45-0.365600.00181.04-0.38-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20042055068084010504090
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

spot240380500620740940659659
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K 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: SITM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk