Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:44 PM ET

CBRS max pain

Spot (delayed)$108.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$160+47.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.45±20.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.3141K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3091.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3.6Mper 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 30$117+7.8%4d
Fri, Nov 6$145+33.6%11d
Fri, Nov 13$150+38.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$160+47.5%25d
Fri, Nov 27$150+38.2%32d
Fri, Dec 4$135+24.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$135+24.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$165+52.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$165+52.1%144d
Fri, Apr 16$165+52.1%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16070134198262326390$527M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1607011515018524032011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CBRS 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

spot160701151501852403202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot70134198262326390200%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 98.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot70115150185240320+$1.5M−$1.5M
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
0.96-0.05700.00310.03-0.06-0.04
0.86-0.13850.00790.06-0.13-0.14
0.81-0.15900.00980.08-0.15-0.20
0.74-0.18950.01150.09-0.18-0.26
0.68-0.201000.01300.10-0.20-0.32
0.61-0.211050.01400.11-0.21-0.40
0.54-0.221100.01450.11-0.22-0.47
0.47-0.221150.01450.11-0.22-0.54
0.40-0.211200.01400.11-0.21-0.60
0.34-0.201250.01330.10-0.20-0.66
0.29-0.191300.01230.10-0.19-0.72
0.24-0.171350.01120.09-0.17-0.76
0.20-0.161400.01000.08-0.15-0.80
0.17-0.141450.00890.07-0.14-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60110126157.51902304K0
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

spot6511014519529042014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 154K call contracts, 144K 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: CBRS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk