Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 12:01 AM ET

ARCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.6
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$19+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±4.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.582K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV3016.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$67Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$19+2.1%5d
Fri, Nov 20$19+2.1%40d
Fri, Dec 18$20+7.5%68d
Fri, Jan 15$20+7.5%96d
Fri, Mar 19$20+7.5%159d
Fri, May 21$20+7.5%222d
Fri, Aug 20$17-8.6%313d
Fri, Jan 21$20+7.5%467d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19151720222527$3M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1915171921242K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARCC 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

spot191517192124301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot16171819202156%12%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 201517192124+$84K−$84K
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
0.94-0.00150.04290.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.00160.07350.01-0.00-0.09
0.85-0.01170.13610.01-0.01-0.15
0.70-0.01180.26920.02-0.01-0.30
0.38-0.01190.35730.02-0.01-0.65
0.16-0.00200.19060.02-0.00-0.88
0.09-0.00210.09960.01-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00230.03880.01-0.00-0.99
0.03-0.00240.02720.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00270.01220.000.00-1.00

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

spot12151821242711K0
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

spot31217222724K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 53K call contracts, 85K 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: ARCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk