Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:41 PM ET

ARKB max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.92
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$26-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.65±9.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.33219 puts / 672 calls
Call wall$31largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3041.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$35Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $28

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$26-3.4%28d
Fri, Dec 18$24-10.8%56d
Fri, Jan 15$21-22.0%84d
Fri, Mar 19$22-18.3%147d
Thu, Jun 17$28+4.0%237d
Fri, Jan 21$15-44.3%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot26151923273135$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot26152326293235198198
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARKB 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

spot261523262932351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot151923273135163%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 28152326293235+$16K−$16K
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
0.97-0.01150.00790.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.01200.02340.01-0.02-0.08
0.88-0.02220.03810.01-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.02230.04950.02-0.02-0.15
0.81-0.02240.06490.02-0.02-0.20
0.75-0.02250.08500.03-0.02-0.26
0.66-0.02260.10790.03-0.02-0.35
0.55-0.02270.12370.03-0.02-0.47
0.43-0.02280.12050.03-0.02-0.59
0.33-0.02290.10410.03-0.02-0.68
0.26-0.02300.08620.03-0.02-0.75
0.22-0.02310.07120.02-0.02-0.80
0.18-0.02320.05940.02-0.02-0.84
0.16-0.02330.05030.02-0.02-0.86
0.14-0.02340.04310.02-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1119263340471K0
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

spot1017243138451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 3K 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: ARKB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk