Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:12 PM ET

U max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.13
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$39-5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.2±27.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.9318K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
IV3071.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$58Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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, Oct 30$41-0.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$44+7.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$44+7.0%17d
Fri, Nov 20$38-7.6%24d
Fri, Nov 27$40-2.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$40-2.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$41-0.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$30-27.1%80d
Fri, Feb 19$39-5.2%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3951831445770$37M$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot39518253239466K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)U 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

spot39518253239466161
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot51831445770222%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1051825323946+$84K−$84K
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
0.77-0.02340.02020.07-0.02-0.23
0.74-0.02350.02150.07-0.02-0.26
0.72-0.02360.02260.08-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.02370.02370.08-0.02-0.31
0.67-0.02380.02460.08-0.02-0.33
0.64-0.02390.02550.09-0.02-0.36
0.61-0.02400.02610.09-0.02-0.39
0.59-0.02410.02670.09-0.02-0.41
0.56-0.02420.02710.09-0.02-0.44
0.54-0.02430.02730.09-0.03-0.47
0.51-0.02440.02750.09-0.03-0.50
0.48-0.02450.02750.09-0.03-0.52
0.46-0.02460.02740.09-0.02-0.55
0.43-0.02470.02720.09-0.02-0.57
0.37-0.02500.02600.09-0.02-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2533.53842465133K0
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

spot3213137.5445144K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 383K call contracts, 257K 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: U workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk