Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:16 PM ET

CART max pain

Spot (delayed)$60.9
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$47-22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±10.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.216K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$42largest put OI
IV3053.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $34

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 30$47.5-22.0%4d
Fri, Nov 6$49.5-18.7%11d
Fri, Nov 13$48-21.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$47-22.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$45-26.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$56-8.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$44-27.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$47-22.8%81d
Fri, Apr 16$45-26.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47303846546270$43M$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 — 47 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4730374448536112K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CART 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

spot473037444853617K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot313947546270182%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 34303744485361+$1.4M−$1.4M
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
0.82-0.05530.02640.04-0.05-0.18
0.80-0.05540.02950.04-0.05-0.20
0.77-0.06550.03280.05-0.06-0.23
0.73-0.06560.03610.05-0.06-0.27
0.70-0.06570.03930.06-0.06-0.30
0.66-0.06580.04220.06-0.06-0.34
0.56-0.07600.04640.06-0.07-0.43
0.52-0.07610.04730.06-0.07-0.48
0.47-0.07620.04740.06-0.07-0.53
0.34-0.06650.04320.06-0.06-0.66
0.19-0.05700.03010.04-0.05-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot374447.55055607K0
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

spot18324146526227K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 23K 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: CART workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk