Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 1:20 AM ET

SSTK max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.41
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$5+13.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05±46.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.851K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3090.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$834per 1% move

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$2.5-43.3%22d
Fri, Dec 18$5+13.4%50d
Fri, Feb 19$5+13.4%113d
Fri, May 21$2.5-43.3%204d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53814192530$3M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot52.57.512.517.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SSTK 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

spot52.57.512.517.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot3814192530236%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot2.57.512.517.530+$2K−$2K
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
0.90-0.002.50.06730.01-0.00-0.10
0.48-0.0050.21550.01-0.00-0.53
0.27-0.007.50.13080.01-0.00-0.75
0.20-0.00100.09280.01-0.00-0.82
0.16-0.0012.50.07350.01-0.00-0.86
0.14-0.00150.06180.010.00-0.89
0.13-0.0017.50.05380.01—-0.91
0.10-0.00250.04020.00—-0.95
0.09-0.00300.03500.00—-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.52532.53K0
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

spot2.51017.52532.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: SSTK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk