Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 2:30 AM ET

BLZE max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.15
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5+36.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.8±30.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.353K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV30119.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$12.5+36.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+36.6%58d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+36.6%86d
Fri, Apr 16$7.5-18.0%177d
Thu, Jun 17$7.5-18.0%239d
Fri, Sep 17$2.5-72.7%331d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.55913172125$2M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.55101520251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BLZE 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

spot12.5510152025619619
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot81115182225212%110%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 121.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.5510152025+$12K−$12K
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
0.94-0.0150.02720.00-0.01-0.06
0.78-0.027.50.08660.01-0.02-0.22
0.49-0.02100.12000.01-0.02-0.51
0.27-0.0212.50.09600.01-0.02-0.73
0.14-0.01150.06380.01-0.01-0.85
0.08-0.0117.50.04030.00-0.01-0.92
0.05-0.01200.02530.00-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.0022.50.01610.00-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00250.01040.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5306K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 9K 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: BLZE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk