Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 11:15 PM ET

UAN max pain

Spot (delayed)$135.88
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$125-8.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.9±25.7% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.101K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$120-11.7%5d
Fri, Oct 16$130-4.3%33d
Fri, Nov 20$110-19.0%68d
Fri, Feb 19$125-8.0%159d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1255581107133159185$8M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1255580105130155180825825
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UAN 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

spot125558010513015518011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot558110713315918581%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 1255580105130155180+$39K$39K
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
0.91-0.061000.00920.11-0.04-0.18
0.85-0.071050.01000.17-0.04-0.22
0.79-0.071100.01040.22-0.04-0.26
0.73-0.071150.01070.26-0.05-0.30
0.67-0.071200.01080.28-0.05-0.34
0.61-0.071250.01080.31-0.05-0.39
0.55-0.061300.01070.32-0.05-0.43
0.50-0.061350.01050.33-0.05-0.47
0.45-0.061400.01020.33-0.05-0.52
0.40-0.061450.00980.33-0.05-0.56
0.35-0.051500.00930.32-0.04-0.59
0.31-0.051550.00870.30-0.04-0.63
0.28-0.051600.00820.29-0.04-0.66
0.24-0.041650.00760.27-0.04-0.69
0.21-0.041700.00700.25-0.03-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65951201451701951K0
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

spot55801051301551801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: UAN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk