Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:54 AM ET

ALLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.94
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$8-10.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45±16.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.80102 puts / 128 calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3060.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$840per 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$8-10.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$7-21.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$6-32.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$6-32.9%144d
Fri, Jan 21$5-44.1%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot867891011$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8678910118080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALLT 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

spot86789101133
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot67891011171%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1067891011+$813−$813
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
0.95-0.0060.04340.00-0.00-0.05
0.89-0.0170.09350.01-0.01-0.11
0.77-0.0180.18620.01-0.01-0.24
0.53-0.0190.26430.01-0.01-0.47
0.29-0.01100.22610.01-0.01-0.71
0.15-0.01110.14560.01-0.01-0.86

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

spot3681012154990
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

spot14710131616K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 16K 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: ALLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk