Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:13 AM ET

AXSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$145.4
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$175+20.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.75±12.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.40500 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$195largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3056.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$72Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $185

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$175+20.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$200+37.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$170+16.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$160+10.0%145d
Fri, May 21$150+3.2%208d
Thu, Jun 17$160+10.0%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175120152184216248280$11M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot175120140160180200240510510
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AXSM 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

spot175120140160180200240242242
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120152184216248280133%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 185120140160180200240+$61K−$61K
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
0.88-0.101200.00770.08-0.10-0.13
0.83-0.111250.00990.10-0.11-0.17
0.78-0.131300.01220.12-0.13-0.22
0.71-0.141350.01450.14-0.15-0.29
0.63-0.161400.01630.15-0.16-0.37
0.55-0.161450.01720.16-0.17-0.46
0.46-0.171500.01710.16-0.17-0.54
0.39-0.161550.01620.15-0.16-0.62
0.32-0.151600.01480.14-0.16-0.69
0.27-0.141650.01310.13-0.15-0.74
0.22-0.141700.01150.12-0.14-0.79
0.18-0.121750.01000.11-0.13-0.83
0.15-0.111800.00870.10-0.12-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.5901251702303202K0
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

spot47.5901251702303205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 12K 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: AXSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk