Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:54 PM ET

BKR max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.77
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$55-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.78±8.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.553K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3040.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$333Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$55-1.4%24d
Fri, Dec 18$55-1.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$55-1.4%80d
Fri, Mar 19$60+7.6%143d
Fri, Apr 16$55-1.4%171d
Thu, Jun 17$55-1.4%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55354351596775$8M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5535455565754K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BKR 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

spot5535455565751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot354351596775114%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 603545556575+$605K−$605K
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
1.00—350.00100.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.00400.00390.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.02450.01420.01-0.02-0.06
0.84-0.04500.03900.03-0.03-0.16
0.58-0.05550.06490.06-0.05-0.42
0.28-0.04600.05480.05-0.04-0.72
0.11-0.02650.02880.03-0.02-0.89
0.04-0.01700.01320.01-0.01-0.96
0.02-0.01750.00620.01-0.00-0.98

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

spot2030405070908K0
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

spot20324050751009K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 24K 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: BKR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk