Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:46 PM ET

APP max pain

Spot (delayed)$260.07
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$285+9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.4±17.1% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.543K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3081.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$643Kper 1% move

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$280+7.7%4d
Fri, Nov 6$280+7.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$285+9.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$300+15.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$295+13.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$260-0.0%39d
Fri, Dec 18$330+26.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$320+23.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$320+23.0%116d
Fri, Mar 19$300+15.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot285170223276329382435$27M$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 — 285 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot285170215260305350405476476
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APP 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

spot285170215260305350405191191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot170223276329382435141%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot170215260305350405+$148K−$148K
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
0.78-0.472250.00510.17-0.47-0.22
0.75-0.502300.00550.18-0.51-0.25
0.72-0.532350.00580.20-0.54-0.28
0.69-0.562400.00620.20-0.56-0.31
0.66-0.582450.00640.21-0.58-0.34
0.62-0.602500.00670.22-0.60-0.38
0.59-0.612550.00690.23-0.61-0.41
0.55-0.622600.00700.23-0.62-0.45
0.52-0.622650.00710.23-0.62-0.48
0.48-0.622700.00710.23-0.62-0.52
0.45-0.612750.00710.23-0.61-0.55
0.41-0.602800.00700.23-0.60-0.59
0.38-0.582850.00690.22-0.58-0.62
0.35-0.562900.00670.21-0.56-0.65
0.32-0.542950.00650.21-0.54-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot200252.5277.53053554102K0
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

spot10019528541056075034K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 197K call contracts, 196K 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: APP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk