Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 11:45 PM ET

CAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$101.55
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$105+3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.9±16.6% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.09177 puts / 163 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3074.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$11Kper 1% move

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$105+3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$105+3.4%7d
Fri, Nov 6$110+8.3%14d
Fri, Nov 13$105+3.4%21d
Fri, Nov 20$120+18.2%28d
Fri, Nov 27$106+4.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$150+47.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$170+67.4%84d
Fri, Feb 19$140+37.9%119d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1058093106119132145$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot1058094103106109130100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAR open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot105809410310610913011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot8093106119132145125%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot8094103106109130+$14K−$14K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.08800.00850.05-0.09-0.11
0.76-0.14900.01470.08-0.15-0.24
0.74-0.15910.01520.08-0.15-0.26
0.69-0.17940.01670.09-0.17-0.31
0.67-0.17950.01720.09-0.17-0.33
0.62-0.18980.01820.10-0.18-0.39
0.52-0.191030.01920.10-0.19-0.48
0.50-0.191040.01930.10-0.19-0.50
0.48-0.191050.01930.10-0.19-0.52
0.47-0.181060.01930.10-0.18-0.54
0.45-0.181070.01920.10-0.18-0.56
0.43-0.181080.01910.10-0.18-0.57
0.41-0.181090.01890.10-0.18-0.59
0.39-0.181100.01880.10-0.18-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot851011111211311436080
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

spot30961221803007008K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 35K 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: CAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk