Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 12:53 AM ET

ANNX max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.91
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$4+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.11±28.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.28265 puts / 941 calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV30151.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$4+2.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$5+27.9%58d
Fri, Jan 15$6+53.5%86d
Fri, Apr 16$4+2.3%177d
Fri, Jan 21$1-74.4%457d
Fri, Jan 19$3-23.3%821d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4234567$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4234567534534
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ANNX 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

spot42345672K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot234456234%121%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 127.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 4234567+$1K−$1K
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
0.95-0.0020.06060.00-0.00-0.06
0.80-0.0130.16620.00-0.01-0.21
0.57-0.0140.23780.00-0.01-0.44
0.37-0.0150.22360.00-0.01-0.64
0.24-0.0160.17770.00-0.01-0.77
0.16-0.0170.13400.00-0.01-0.86

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

spot0.52581112K0
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

spot0.52581112K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 20K 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: ANNX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk