Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:23 PM ET

TBBK max pain

Spot (delayed)$69.68
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$35-49.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.05±24.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.021 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3035.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$55-21.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$60-13.9%33d
Fri, Nov 20$55-21.1%96d
Fri, Feb 19$35-49.8%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot353549637791105$1M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot35355070851001212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TBBK 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

spot353550708510011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot354963779110580%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 4035507085100+$1K$1K
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
0.94-0.01350.00300.05-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01400.00430.07-0.01-0.07
0.85-0.02500.00800.12-0.02-0.15
0.80-0.02550.01030.14-0.02-0.20
0.57-0.02700.01730.20-0.02-0.43
0.48-0.02750.01850.20-0.02-0.52
0.31-0.02850.01740.18-0.02-0.70
0.19-0.01950.01350.14-0.01-0.85
0.14-0.011000.01130.12-0.01-0.90
0.11-0.011050.00940.10-0.01-0.94

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

spot4050607080909580
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

spot3045607590105970970
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 168 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: TBBK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk