Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 2:04 AM ET

ARMP max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.09
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$5+61.8% vs spot
Put/Call OI2.8351 puts / 18 calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30115.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$91per 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 16$7.5+142.7%1d
Fri, Nov 20$5+61.8%36d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5-19.1%127d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5358101315$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot52.557.51012.5155050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARMP 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

spot52.557.51012.51511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot358101315675%146%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 215.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2.557.51015+$102−$102
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
0.81-0.002.50.25980.00-0.00-0.21
0.21-0.0150.20940.00-0.01-0.81
0.09-0.007.50.09920.00-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00100.05960.00-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.0012.50.04070.00-0.00-0.99
0.03-0.00150.03010.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot2.557.51012.5151K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 106 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: ARMP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk