Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:16 AM ET

CBRL max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.66
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$60-11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.05±10.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.681K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$72.5largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$156Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $52.5

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$60-11.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$52.5-22.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50-26.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$52.5-22.4%144d
Thu, Jun 17$60-11.3%234d
Fri, Dec 17$35-48.3%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60283951627485$3M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6027.537.547.557.567.577.5569569
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CBRL 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

spot6027.537.547.557.567.577.5130130
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot304152637485188%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 52.527.537.547.557.567.577.5+$102K−$102K
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
0.96-0.02500.00670.01-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.0252.50.00970.02-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.03550.01400.03-0.03-0.08
0.88-0.0457.50.01990.04-0.04-0.12
0.82-0.04600.02700.05-0.04-0.18
0.74-0.0562.50.03460.06-0.05-0.26
0.65-0.06650.04100.07-0.06-0.35
0.54-0.0667.50.04420.07-0.06-0.46
0.43-0.06700.04350.07-0.06-0.57
0.33-0.0672.50.03970.07-0.06-0.67
0.25-0.05750.03420.06-0.05-0.75
0.19-0.0477.50.02830.05-0.05-0.81
0.14-0.04800.02280.04-0.04-0.86
0.08-0.03850.01430.03-0.03-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot153547.56072.5901K0
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

spot12.527.542.557.572.5954K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 20K 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: CBRL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk