Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:23 AM ET

WDFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$212.71
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$185-13.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.2±15.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.03232 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3029.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $185

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$195-8.3%26d
Fri, Dec 18$200-6.0%54d
Fri, Feb 19$185-13.0%117d
Fri, May 21$195-8.3%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot185125174223272321370$121M$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot1851251601852202703203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDFC 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

spot18512516018522027032011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot12517422327232137059%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 185125160185230280330+$1.0M−$1.0M
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
0.87-0.041700.00440.25-0.04-0.13
0.85-0.051750.00500.28-0.05-0.15
0.82-0.051800.00580.31-0.05-0.18
0.79-0.051850.00660.34-0.05-0.21
0.76-0.061900.00740.38-0.06-0.25
0.72-0.061950.00820.41-0.06-0.28
0.68-0.062000.00890.43-0.06-0.33
0.58-0.062100.01010.47-0.06-0.42
0.47-0.062200.01060.48-0.06-0.53
0.37-0.062300.01030.46-0.06-0.63
0.28-0.052400.00920.41-0.05-0.72
0.21-0.042500.00780.35-0.05-0.80
0.15-0.042600.00640.29-0.04-0.86
0.11-0.032700.00510.24-0.04-0.90
0.09-0.032800.00400.19-0.04-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1401852102502903303K0
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

spot1101401702002603203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 637 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: WDFC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk