Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 3:32 AM ET

SPHR max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.14
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$110+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.05±24.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.03147 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3064.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$304Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: 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$110+0.8%18d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides46d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-61.1%74d
Fri, Feb 19$110+0.8%109d
Fri, May 21one strike decides200d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides445d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1105596137178219260$43M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot11055951251551852305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPHR 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

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot559613717821926088%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 905595125155185230+$269K−$269K
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
0.92-0.02750.00440.10-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.03800.00570.12-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.04850.00700.15-0.04-0.16
0.80-0.04900.00830.17-0.04-0.21
0.75-0.05950.00940.20-0.05-0.26
0.69-0.051000.01050.21-0.06-0.32
0.63-0.061050.01120.23-0.06-0.38
0.58-0.061100.01180.24-0.06-0.44
0.52-0.061150.01210.24-0.06-0.50
0.46-0.061200.01210.24-0.06-0.56
0.41-0.061250.01190.23-0.06-0.61
0.36-0.051300.01140.23-0.06-0.67
0.31-0.051350.01080.21-0.06-0.72
0.27-0.051400.01010.20-0.05-0.76
0.23-0.041450.00930.18-0.05-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.540651001451902K0
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

spot12.54067.5951452005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 4K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: SPHR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk