Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 3:15 AM ET

AIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$127.69
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$118-7.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI1.13168 puts / 149 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3029.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$118-7.6%26d
Fri, Feb 19$100-21.7%117d
Fri, May 21$140+9.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1187096122148174200$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 — 118 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11870105110115120145101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AIA 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

spot118701051101151201451515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot75100125150175200113%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7570105110115120145+$9K−$9K
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
0.84-0.061150.01700.09-0.06-0.16
0.82-0.061160.01840.09-0.06-0.17
0.81-0.071170.01990.10-0.07-0.19
0.79-0.071180.02160.10-0.07-0.21
0.78-0.071190.02330.11-0.07-0.22
0.76-0.071200.02520.11-0.07-0.24
0.62-0.071250.03490.14-0.07-0.38
0.43-0.071300.03860.14-0.07-0.57
0.27-0.061350.03120.12-0.06-0.74
0.17-0.051400.02170.09-0.05-0.84
0.11-0.041450.01490.07-0.04-0.90
0.08-0.041500.01050.05-0.04-0.93
0.04-0.031600.00580.03-0.03-0.97
0.02-0.021800.00230.02-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.012000.00120.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70105110117135180500
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

spot60105117132144165101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 189 call contracts, 177 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: AIA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk