Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 4:22 AM ET

WAB max pain

Spot (delayed)$286.82
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$165-42.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.85±11.8% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.056 puts / 126 calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3028.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$63Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $210

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$290+1.1%33d
Fri, Dec 18$310+8.1%61d
Fri, Jan 15$250-12.8%89d
Fri, Feb 19$165-42.5%124d
Fri, Apr 16$300+4.6%180d
Fri, May 21$270-5.9%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot165165212259306353400$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1651652502803204005050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WAB 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

spot16516525028032040011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot21024828632436240037%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 210165250280320400+$19K−$19K
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
0.99-0.011650.00040.06-0.01-0.01
0.95-0.032100.00170.18-0.03-0.05
0.91-0.042300.00300.28-0.04-0.10
0.83-0.052500.00510.43-0.05-0.17
0.78-0.062600.00630.50-0.06-0.23
0.71-0.062700.00760.58-0.06-0.30
0.63-0.062800.00880.64-0.07-0.38
0.54-0.072900.00960.67-0.07-0.48
0.44-0.063000.00980.66-0.07-0.58
0.27-0.053200.00830.56-0.06-0.78
0.15-0.043400.00580.40-0.05-0.93
0.11-0.033500.00460.32-0.04-0.97
0.03-0.014000.00140.11—-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1651952402903403903020
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

spot150180220280340400387387
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 724 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: WAB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk