Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 10, 12:34 AM ET

VIK max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.62
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$80-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.85±18.2% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.53493 puts / 928 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3039.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$80-2.0%4d
Fri, Nov 20$85+4.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$85+4.1%67d
Fri, Jan 15$80-2.0%95d
Fri, Feb 19$80-2.0%130d
Fri, May 21$80-2.0%221d
Fri, Jan 21$80-2.0%466d
Fri, Jan 19$70-14.2%830d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot80507192113134155$5M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot80507090110130155264264
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VIK 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

spot805070901101301551818
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot55759511513515548%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 70507090110130155+$25K−$25K
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
0.97-0.01500.00280.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01550.00460.05-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01600.00730.08-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.02650.01070.11-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02700.01450.14-0.02-0.21
0.71-0.02750.01810.17-0.03-0.30
0.61-0.03800.02070.19-0.03-0.40
0.50-0.03850.02180.20-0.03-0.51
0.40-0.03900.02130.19-0.03-0.62
0.31-0.02950.01940.17-0.03-0.72
0.23-0.021000.01680.15-0.02-0.80
0.17-0.021050.01400.13-0.02-0.87
0.13-0.011100.01130.10-0.02-0.93
0.09-0.011150.00900.08-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5075951151354K0
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

spot17.540701001301607K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 17K 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: VIK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk