Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:55 AM ET

ALT max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$3+42.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.75±35.7% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.2134 puts / 28 calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3077.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$30per 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$3+42.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$3+42.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$3+42.9%18d
Fri, Nov 20$3+42.9%25d
Fri, Nov 27$3+42.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$1-52.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$3+42.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$2-4.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$0.5-76.2%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3122334$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot312342828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot3123411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot122334638%106%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 290.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spotflip 3134+$41−$41
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0010.08880.00-0.00-0.05
0.65-0.0020.87640.00-0.00-0.35
0.16-0.0030.37960.00-0.00-0.85
0.09-0.0040.18410.00-0.00-0.92

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

spot0.52348910
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

spot0.523.5571533K33K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 163K call contracts, 19K 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: ALT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk