Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:01 AM ET

BEKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.08
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$18+5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.78±4.5% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI1.26306 puts / 242 calls
Call wall$19largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3041.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$18+5.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$9-47.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$17-0.5%18d
Fri, Nov 20$17-0.5%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15-12.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$19+11.2%39d
Fri, Dec 18$17-0.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$17-0.5%81d
Fri, Apr 16$17-0.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18121415171820$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot18121416.51820227227
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BEKE open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot18121416.518201515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot141516181920137%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 16.5121416.51820+$20K−$20K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.03120.02800.00-0.03-0.06
0.93-0.03130.04060.00-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.03140.06200.00-0.03-0.10
0.86-0.04150.10230.01-0.04-0.14
0.68-0.0416.50.26040.01-0.04-0.32
0.54-0.04170.31820.01-0.04-0.46
0.29-0.04180.22490.01-0.04-0.70
0.19-0.04190.13920.01-0.04-0.81
0.14-0.04200.09510.01-0.04-0.86

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

spot91317192270
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

spot31317.52226.53276K76K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 159K call contracts, 96K 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: BEKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk