Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 10:02 AM ET

ABR max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.89
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$3+3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.69±23.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.157K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV3094.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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, Oct 30$2.5-13.5%3d
Fri, Nov 6$3+3.8%10d
Fri, Nov 13$2-30.8%17d
Fri, Nov 20$3+3.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$3+3.8%31d
Fri, Dec 4$1-65.4%38d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-13.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$7+142.2%80d
Fri, Apr 16$6+107.6%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3134679$3M$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot312.53.5575K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABR 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

spot312.53.5571K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot234456309%80%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 103.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 312.53.557+$17K−$17K
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
1.00-0.0010.02200.00-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.0020.17810.00-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.012.50.43620.00-0.01-0.31
0.50-0.0130.68730.00-0.01-0.59
0.27-0.013.50.47700.00-0.01-0.78
0.18-0.0140.31140.00-0.00-0.86
0.11-0.0050.17380.00-0.00-0.92
0.08-0.0060.11950.00-0.00-0.94
0.07-0.0070.09130.00-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.0090.06280.00-0.00-0.97

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

spot0.523.57108600
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

spot0.535.5101729K29K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 64K call contracts, 106K 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: ABR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk