Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:52 AM ET

CARG max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.52
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$34+7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.5±14.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI43.5517K puts / 385 calls
Call wall$33largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3066.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$809Kper 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, Nov 20$34+7.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$28-11.2%53d
Fri, Feb 19$28-11.2%116d
Fri, May 21$29-8.0%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot34202632384450$15M$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 — 34 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot342026303438455K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CARG 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

spot34202630343845113113
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot202632384450149%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot202630343845+$297K−$297K
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
0.88-0.02250.02880.02-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.03260.03530.02-0.03-0.15
0.81-0.03270.04240.02-0.03-0.19
0.76-0.04280.04950.03-0.04-0.24
0.71-0.04290.05620.03-0.04-0.30
0.64-0.04300.06170.03-0.04-0.36
0.58-0.04310.06550.03-0.04-0.42
0.51-0.04320.06730.04-0.04-0.49
0.45-0.04330.06700.04-0.04-0.56
0.39-0.04340.06480.03-0.04-0.62
0.33-0.04350.06100.03-0.04-0.68
0.28-0.04360.05630.03-0.04-0.73
0.23-0.03370.05100.03-0.03-0.77
0.20-0.03380.04560.02-0.03-0.81
0.16-0.03390.04030.02-0.03-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot202630343842970
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

spot1524293439455K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 537 call contracts, 17K 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: CARG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk