Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:04 PM ET

USLM max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.48
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$55-50.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19±17.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.1412 puts / 83 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3038.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

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$115+4.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$125+13.1%53d
Fri, Feb 19$55-50.2%116d
Fri, May 21$65-41.2%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot555579103127151175$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5555851051251605656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USLM 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

spot55558510512516011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot658710913115317568%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot5585105125160+$820−$820
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
0.96-0.01650.00220.05-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01750.00390.08-0.02-0.07
0.88-0.02850.00680.13-0.03-0.12
0.84-0.03900.00860.15-0.03-0.16
0.80-0.03950.01080.18-0.03-0.21
0.74-0.031000.01310.20-0.04-0.27
0.67-0.041050.01520.23-0.04-0.34
0.58-0.041100.01690.24-0.04-0.43
0.50-0.041150.01770.25-0.04-0.52
0.41-0.041200.01740.24-0.04-0.61
0.34-0.031250.01630.23-0.04-0.69
0.27-0.031300.01470.21-0.03-0.76
0.12-0.021500.00800.12-0.02-0.94
0.10-0.021550.00680.11-0.02-0.97
0.08-0.021600.00580.09-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5590115140165195560
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

spot55801051301551805656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 190 call contracts, 86 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: USLM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk