Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:17 AM ET

BIS max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.46
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$16+39.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.8±15.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.295 puts / 17 calls
Call wall$21largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3061.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$126per 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, Nov 20$16+39.6%26d
Fri, Feb 19$15+30.9%117d
Fri, May 21$21+83.2%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16121416171921$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 — 16 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot161216192155
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BIS 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

spot161216192111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot121416171921201%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12161921+$51−$51
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
0.42-0.01120.19420.01-0.01-0.58
0.29-0.01130.14730.01-0.01-0.70
0.15-0.01160.07070.01-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01170.05920.01-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.01190.04420.01-0.01-0.89
0.10-0.01200.03920.01-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01210.03510.01-0.01-0.91

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

spot101316202360
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

spot271217222766
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 37 call contracts, 18 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: BIS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk