Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:09 AM ET

SM max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.15
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$27.5-31.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.9±22.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.484K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$27.5largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3053.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$83Kper 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$35-12.8%24d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-44.0%52d
Fri, Jan 15$27.5-31.5%80d
Fri, Feb 19$27.5-31.5%115d
Fri, May 21$35-12.8%206d
Fri, Jan 19$25-37.7%815d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27.5152331394755$22M$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 — 27.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot27.51522.53037.545554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SM 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

spot27.51522.53037.54555214214
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot15233139475599%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1522.53037.54555+$80K−$80K
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
0.96-0.0022.50.00590.02-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01250.00880.03-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0127.50.01260.04-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01300.01750.05-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.0132.50.02280.06-0.01-0.19
0.74-0.01350.02790.07-0.02-0.27
0.66-0.0237.50.03190.08-0.02-0.35
0.57-0.02400.03430.09-0.02-0.43
0.49-0.0242.50.03480.09-0.02-0.52
0.41-0.02450.03390.09-0.02-0.60
0.34-0.0247.50.03180.08-0.02-0.67
0.28-0.02500.02900.07-0.01-0.73
0.18-0.01550.02260.06-0.01-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.517.527.537.547.54K0
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

spot515253545605K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 17K 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: SM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk