Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 7:50 PM ET

WES max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.68
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$48-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.85±12.0% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.27531 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3018.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$158Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $46

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Aug 21$45-7.6%2d
Fri, Sep 18$47-3.5%30d
Fri, Nov 20$44-9.6%93d
Fri, Jan 15$42-13.7%149d
Fri, Feb 19$48-1.4%184d
Fri, Jan 21$37-24.0%520d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot48303540455055$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot483037414447502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WES 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

spot48303741444750200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot30354045505544%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 46303741444750+$168K$168K
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
0.89-0.00420.03150.06-0.01-0.18
0.86-0.01430.03830.07-0.01-0.22
0.81-0.01440.04520.09-0.01-0.27
0.76-0.01450.05170.10-0.01-0.31
0.71-0.01460.05720.11-0.01-0.37
0.65-0.01470.06130.12-0.01-0.42
0.58-0.01480.06370.13-0.01-0.48
0.52-0.01490.06440.13-0.01-0.54
0.46-0.01500.06330.13-0.01-0.60
0.21-0.01550.04390.10-0.00-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3340434649603K0
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

spot2031364146554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 13K 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: WES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk