Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 6:38 AM ET

WSO max pain

Spot (delayed)$314.22
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$330+5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$61.05±19.4% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.20135 puts / 674 calls
Call wall$380largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3030.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$246Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $350

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$310-1.3%5d
Fri, Oct 16$310-1.3%33d
Fri, Nov 20$300-4.5%68d
Fri, Feb 19$330+5.0%159d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330180260340420500580$14M$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot330180230290350410480272272
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WSO 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

spot3301802302903504104801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot18026034042050058059%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 350180230290350410480+$120K$120K
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
0.88-0.052400.00240.42-0.06-0.14
0.85-0.062500.00290.49-0.07-0.17
0.81-0.072600.00340.55-0.07-0.20
0.77-0.082700.00380.62-0.08-0.24
0.73-0.082800.00420.68-0.08-0.28
0.69-0.092900.00460.73-0.09-0.33
0.64-0.093000.00500.77-0.09-0.38
0.58-0.093100.00520.80-0.09-0.43
0.53-0.093200.00540.81-0.09-0.48
0.48-0.093300.00550.81-0.09-0.54
0.42-0.093400.00550.80-0.09-0.59
0.37-0.083500.00530.78-0.08-0.64
0.33-0.083600.00510.74-0.08-0.69
0.28-0.073700.00480.69-0.07-0.74
0.24-0.073800.00450.64-0.07-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1953003504004505001K0
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

spot1752303103904705601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 840 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: WSO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk