Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 1:08 AM ET

UBS max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.68
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$50+4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.73±14.1% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.783K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$52.5largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3031.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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, Nov 20$47.5-0.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$52.5+10.1%63d
Fri, Jan 15$47.5-0.4%91d
Fri, Feb 19$50+4.9%126d
Fri, May 21$40-16.1%217d
Fri, Jan 21$52.5+10.1%462d
Fri, Jan 19$50+4.9%826d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50283747566675$6M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5027.53542.55057.565828828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UBS 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

spot5027.53542.55057.565136136
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot28374756667556%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 6527.53542.55057.565+$75K−$75K
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
0.96-0.00300.00570.02-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.0132.50.00810.03-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01350.01180.04-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.0137.50.01700.05-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01400.02390.07-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.0142.50.03220.08-0.01-0.22
0.69-0.01450.04040.10-0.01-0.32
0.58-0.0147.50.04640.11-0.01-0.43
0.46-0.01500.04830.11-0.01-0.56
0.35-0.0152.50.04570.10-0.01-0.68
0.25-0.01550.03970.09-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.0157.50.03220.07-0.01-0.89
0.12-0.01600.02460.06-0.01-0.96
0.08-0.0062.50.01800.04-0.00-0.99
0.05-0.00650.01270.03—-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

spot20304050606K0
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

spot1525354555659K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 59K 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: UBS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk