Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:46 AM ET

UNIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.19
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$8+54.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.58±30.3% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.0778 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$11largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3087.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6

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$9+73.4%28d
Fri, Dec 18$6+15.6%56d
Fri, Jan 15$9+73.4%84d
Fri, Feb 19$8+54.1%119d
Fri, May 21$8+54.1%210d
Fri, Dec 17$7+34.9%420d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85811141720$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot85791114191K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UNIT 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

spot857911141911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5811141720168%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 67.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 6579111419+$2K−$2K
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
0.64-0.0050.19160.01-0.00-0.37
0.46-0.0060.19270.01-0.00-0.56
0.35-0.0070.15900.01-0.00-0.67
0.28-0.0080.13120.01-0.00-0.74
0.24-0.0090.11090.01-0.00-0.79
0.21-0.00100.09580.01-0.00-0.82
0.18-0.00110.08430.01-0.00-0.85
0.15-0.00130.06780.01-0.00-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot159131738K0
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

spot159131739K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 164K call contracts, 16K 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: UNIT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk