Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:37 AM ET

AIQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.29
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$61-2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.78±7.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.922K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3033.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$59Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$61-2.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$64+2.7%54d
Fri, Jan 15$55-11.7%82d
Fri, Feb 19$55-11.7%117d
Fri, May 21$40-35.8%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot61304356698295$8M$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 — 61 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot61304552596685421421
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AIQ 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

spot613045525966851212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot354759718395130%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 35304552596685+$63K−$63K
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
0.86-0.03550.02880.04-0.03-0.14
0.83-0.03560.03370.04-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.04570.03920.05-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.04580.04520.05-0.04-0.23
0.72-0.04590.05160.06-0.04-0.28
0.67-0.04600.05800.06-0.04-0.33
0.61-0.04610.06360.07-0.04-0.39
0.54-0.04620.06780.07-0.04-0.46
0.47-0.04630.06960.07-0.04-0.53
0.41-0.04640.06870.07-0.04-0.59
0.34-0.04650.06520.06-0.04-0.66
0.28-0.03660.05980.06-0.03-0.72
0.23-0.03670.05330.05-0.03-0.77
0.19-0.03680.04670.05-0.03-0.81
0.16-0.03690.04040.04-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3045525966858010
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

spot3046546270852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 7K 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: AIQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk