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

WDFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$212.71
Max pain · Fri, May 21$195-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.95±20.7% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.7417 puts / 23 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3029.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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

spot195110144178212246280$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot19511016019021025028099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDFC 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

spot19511016019021025028033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot11014417821224628056%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 240110160190210250280+$3K−$3K
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
0.94-0.021350.00160.18-0.02-0.06
0.87-0.031600.00320.33-0.03-0.13
0.78-0.041800.00490.47-0.04-0.22
0.76-0.041850.00540.50-0.04-0.25
0.73-0.041900.00580.53-0.05-0.28
0.69-0.051950.00620.56-0.05-0.31
0.66-0.052000.00650.58-0.05-0.34
0.59-0.052100.00710.62-0.05-0.41
0.45-0.052300.00760.63-0.05-0.56
0.38-0.052400.00740.61-0.05-0.64
0.31-0.042500.00700.56-0.04-0.70
0.25-0.042600.00640.51-0.04-0.77
0.20-0.032700.00560.46-0.04-0.82
0.16-0.032800.00490.40-0.03-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 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