Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:29 PM ET

A max pain

Spot (delayed)$173.89
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$170-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.35±8.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.483K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$175largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3034.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$170-2.2%28d
Fri, Dec 18$160-8.0%56d
Fri, Jan 15$130-25.2%84d
Fri, Feb 19$155-10.9%119d
Fri, Mar 19$120-31.0%147d
Fri, May 21$165-5.1%210d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1706088116144172200$24M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17060851151401651901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)A open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot1706085115140165190831831
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot80104128152176200144%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8580110130150170190+$836K−$836K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.011400.00350.04-0.03-0.03
0.95-0.031450.00520.05-0.04-0.05
0.92-0.041500.00760.07-0.05-0.08
0.87-0.061550.01100.10-0.07-0.13
0.81-0.081600.01490.13-0.08-0.19
0.73-0.101650.01890.16-0.10-0.27
0.62-0.111700.02200.19-0.11-0.38
0.51-0.121750.02340.20-0.12-0.49
0.39-0.111800.02260.19-0.11-0.61
0.29-0.101850.02000.17-0.10-0.71
0.21-0.091900.01660.14-0.08-0.80
0.15-0.071950.01310.11-0.06-0.86
0.10-0.052000.00990.09-0.05-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901201501802203K0
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

spot55851151451752103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 8K 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: A workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk