Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 4:30 AM ET

BL max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$27.5-19.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.85±14.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.73660 puts / 909 calls
Call wall$32.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3067.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$27.5-19.4%23d
Fri, Dec 18$27.5-19.4%51d
Fri, Jan 15$30-12.0%79d
Fri, Feb 19$25-26.7%114d
Fri, Mar 19$25-26.7%142d
Fri, May 21$20-41.3%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27.5152331394755$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 — 27.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot27.51522.53037.547.5407407
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BL 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

spot27.51522.53037.547.544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152331394755245%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.51522.53037.547.5+$17K−$17K
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
0.99-0.0117.50.00330.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01200.00580.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.0222.50.01020.01-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.02250.01730.01-0.02-0.08
0.88-0.0327.50.02840.02-0.03-0.13
0.79-0.04300.04350.03-0.04-0.22
0.66-0.0532.50.05880.03-0.05-0.35
0.50-0.05350.06600.04-0.05-0.51
0.35-0.0537.50.06070.03-0.05-0.67
0.24-0.04400.04900.03-0.04-0.78
0.17-0.0342.50.03720.02-0.04-0.86
0.09-0.0247.50.02100.01-0.03-0.94
0.06-0.02500.01610.01-0.02-0.97
0.04-0.01550.00990.01-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15253545557023K0
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

spot1527.54052.5658528K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 7K 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: BL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk