Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:39 AM ET

XNCR max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.34
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$15-35.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.05±34.5% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.3841 puts / 109 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3064.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$17.5-25.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-35.7%33d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5-46.4%96d
Fri, Feb 19$15-35.7%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1581217212630$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot157.512.520254949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XNCR 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

spot157.512.5202511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot81217212630175%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 107.512.52025+$942$942
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
0.96-0.007.50.00440.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.01100.00730.02-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.0112.50.01130.03-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01150.01630.04-0.01-0.14
0.71-0.01200.02780.06-0.01-0.28
0.63-0.0122.50.03250.06-0.01-0.36
0.54-0.01250.03530.07-0.01-0.45
0.39-0.01300.03480.06-0.01-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot101520254590
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530499499
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 359 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: XNCR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk