Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 12:16 AM ET

BR max pain

Spot (delayed)$183.28
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$175-4.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.3±8.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.11516 puts / 464 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3038.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$145Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $185

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$175-4.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$155-15.4%55d
Fri, Mar 19$170-7.2%146d
Thu, Jun 17$180-1.8%236d
Fri, Dec 17$180-1.8%419d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175125144163182201220$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot175125140155170185200154154
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BR 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

spot17512514015517018520044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12514416318220122092%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 185125140155170185200+$69K−$69K
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
0.94-0.051500.00480.06-0.05-0.06
0.91-0.071550.00650.08-0.07-0.09
0.88-0.081600.00880.10-0.08-0.12
0.83-0.101650.01150.13-0.10-0.17
0.77-0.111700.01440.15-0.12-0.23
0.69-0.131750.01720.18-0.13-0.31
0.60-0.141800.01930.20-0.14-0.41
0.50-0.141850.02000.20-0.14-0.51
0.40-0.141900.01930.20-0.14-0.60
0.32-0.131950.01750.18-0.13-0.69
0.25-0.122000.01520.16-0.12-0.76
0.15-0.092100.01050.12-0.09-0.86
0.09-0.072200.00690.08-0.07-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751301551802102603K0
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

spot751051351651952503K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 3K 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: BR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk