Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 8:26 PM ET

SYY max pain

Spot (delayed)$82.52
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$82.5-0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.45±10.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.29394 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$87.5largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3023.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$224Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$80-3.1%22d
Fri, Dec 18$80-3.1%50d
Fri, Jan 15$80-3.1%78d
Fri, Feb 19$82.5-0.0%113d
Fri, Mar 19$82.5-0.0%141d
Fri, May 21$77.5-6.1%204d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot82.555677991103115$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 — 82.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot82.55567.5758592.5105365365
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SYY 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

spot82.55567.5758592.510522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5567799110311547%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 855567.5758592.5105+$94K−$94K
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
0.960.00600.00550.04-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.00650.00940.06-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.0167.50.01220.08-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.01700.01580.09-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.0172.50.02020.11-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01750.02540.13-0.01-0.22
0.64-0.02800.03610.17-0.02-0.37
0.55-0.0282.50.03950.18-0.02-0.47
0.45-0.02850.04020.18-0.02-0.57
0.36-0.0287.50.03790.17-0.01-0.66
0.28-0.01900.03360.15-0.01-0.74
0.21-0.0192.50.02850.13-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01950.02340.11-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.011000.01540.08-0.01-0.95
0.06-0.011050.01000.06-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50657585951107K0
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

spot355070851001309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 12K 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: SYY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk