Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:58 AM ET

AMSC max pain

Spot (delayed)$25.05
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$29+15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.05±20.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.691K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$36largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3085.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $36

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$29+15.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$25-0.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$30+19.8%81d
Fri, Apr 16$30+19.8%172d
Fri, Jan 21$25-0.2%452d
Fri, Jan 19$30+19.8%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot29152025303540$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 — 29 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot29152025303540410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMSC 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

spot29152025303540104104
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152025303540138%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 36152025303540+$10K−$10K
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
0.90-0.02180.02410.01-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.03190.03010.01-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.03200.03680.02-0.03-0.16
0.79-0.03210.04400.02-0.03-0.20
0.74-0.04220.05110.02-0.04-0.26
0.68-0.04230.05740.03-0.04-0.31
0.62-0.04240.06230.03-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.04250.06530.03-0.04-0.44
0.49-0.04260.06620.03-0.04-0.51
0.43-0.04270.06510.03-0.04-0.57
0.37-0.04280.06240.03-0.04-0.63
0.32-0.04290.05860.03-0.04-0.68
0.27-0.04300.05410.02-0.04-0.72
0.23-0.03310.04920.02-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.03320.04440.02-0.03-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot322303846702K0
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

spot319283746752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 5K 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: AMSC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk