Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 24, 5:05 PM ET

USGG max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.86
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$5+2.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.48±71.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI1.5358 puts / 38 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV30141.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$32per 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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$7+44.0%26d
Fri, Feb 19$5+2.9%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot51610151924$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot514715214242
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USGG 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

spot5147152111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot159131721203%143%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 145.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 3246111521+$65−$65
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
0.96-0.0010.00820.00-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0020.02350.01-0.00-0.09
0.84-0.0030.04400.01-0.00-0.16
0.75-0.0140.06520.01-0.01-0.24
0.67-0.0150.07930.01-0.01-0.33
0.59-0.0160.08470.01-0.01-0.40
0.54-0.0170.08510.01-0.01-0.46
0.40-0.01110.07520.01-0.01-0.60
0.36-0.01130.07030.01-0.01-0.65
0.33-0.01150.06590.01-0.01-0.68
0.32-0.01160.06400.01-0.01-0.69
0.30-0.01170.06220.01-0.01-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot159131824560
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

spot15101520255656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 277 call contracts, 141 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: USGG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk