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

WAB max pain

Spot (delayed)$286.82
Max pain · Fri, May 21$270-5.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.75±16.0% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI4.36266 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3028.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$110Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $195

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

spot270185228271314357400$2M$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 — 270 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot270185220260300340239239
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WAB open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot27018522026030034088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot18522827131435740038%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 195185220260300340+$123K−$123K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.022200.00240.38-0.03-0.10
0.88-0.032300.00300.45-0.03-0.13
0.85-0.032400.00370.53-0.04-0.16
0.81-0.042500.00440.61-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.042600.00520.70-0.04-0.25
0.70-0.042700.00600.77-0.05-0.31
0.64-0.052800.00660.83-0.05-0.38
0.57-0.052900.00710.87-0.05-0.46
0.50-0.053000.00740.88-0.05-0.54
0.43-0.053100.00740.86-0.05-0.62
0.36-0.043200.00720.82-0.05-0.70
0.29-0.043300.00670.76-0.05-0.78
0.24-0.043400.00600.69-0.04-0.86
0.09-0.023800.00320.37-0.02-1.00
0.07-0.023900.00260.31-0.02-1.00

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

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