Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 6:59 PM ET

BKNG max pain

Spot (delayed)$150.23
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$155+3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.55±11.0% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI1.98638 puts / 322 calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3046.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$188Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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 30$160+6.5%3d
Fri, Nov 6$165+9.8%10d
Fri, Nov 13$165+9.8%17d
Fri, Nov 20$165+9.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$155+3.2%31d
Fri, Dec 4$140-6.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$150-0.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$186+23.8%80d
Fri, Mar 19$175+16.5%143d
Fri, Apr 16$200+33.1%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15585108131154177200$4M$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot15585125145165185348348
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKNG open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot155851251451651851111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot85108131154177200156%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 9085125140155170185+$146K−$146K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.02950.00130.02-0.03-0.02
0.98-0.021000.00160.02-0.03-0.02
0.92-0.051250.00710.07-0.05-0.09
0.88-0.071300.00990.09-0.07-0.13
0.81-0.091350.01310.12-0.09-0.19
0.73-0.111400.01610.14-0.11-0.27
0.65-0.121450.01840.16-0.12-0.36
0.55-0.131500.01960.17-0.13-0.46
0.45-0.131550.01970.17-0.13-0.56
0.36-0.121600.01870.16-0.12-0.65
0.27-0.111650.01680.15-0.11-0.74
0.20-0.091700.01430.12-0.09-0.81
0.15-0.071750.01160.10-0.07-0.87
0.11-0.061800.00920.08-0.06-0.91
0.08-0.051850.00710.07-0.05-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot115148162.5177.52002505K0
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

spot8415217019422028421K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 335K call contracts, 273K 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: BKNG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk