Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 8:29 PM ET

BLK max pain

Spot (delayed)$1,118
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$1,060-5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$68.35±6.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.342K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$1,300largest call OI
Put wall$970largest put OI
IV3027.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $1,100

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 23$1,080-3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$1,105-1.2%7d
Fri, Nov 6$1,140+1.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$1,090-2.5%21d
Fri, Nov 20$1,060-5.2%28d
Fri, Nov 27$1,100-1.6%35d
Fri, Dec 18$1,060-5.2%56d
Fri, Jan 15$1,100-1.6%84d
Fri, Mar 19$1,040-7.0%147d
Fri, Apr 16$1,100-1.6%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1060750868986110412221340$67M$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 — 1060 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot106075093010001070113512002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLK 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

spot106075093010001070113512005151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot75086898611041222134078%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 11008009401010108011401220+$4.4M−$4.4M
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
0.80-0.4510500.00300.87-0.46-0.20
0.77-0.4910600.00340.95-0.49-0.23
0.74-0.5210700.00371.02-0.53-0.27
0.70-0.5510800.00401.08-0.56-0.30
0.66-0.5710900.00421.14-0.58-0.35
0.61-0.5911000.00441.19-0.60-0.39
0.57-0.6011100.00461.22-0.61-0.43
0.52-0.6011200.00471.24-0.62-0.48
0.48-0.6011300.00471.24-0.61-0.53
0.45-0.6011350.00471.23-0.61-0.55
0.43-0.5911400.00471.22-0.60-0.58
0.39-0.5711500.00461.19-0.59-0.63
0.34-0.5511600.00441.14-0.56-0.67
0.30-0.5211700.00421.08-0.54-0.71
0.26-0.4811800.00391.01-0.50-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot8401047.51072.51115116512403610
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

spot3907509001040113513004K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 18K 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: BLK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk