Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 6:26 PM ET

CCXI max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.62
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10-43.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.7±49.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.432K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV30132.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$15-14.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$10-43.2%32d
Fri, Nov 20$10-43.2%95d
Fri, Feb 19$10-43.2%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1051015202530$6M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot105101520252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCXI 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

spot105101520259191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51015202530271%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 123.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10510152025+$7K$7K
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
0.99-0.0050.00350.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.007.50.00840.01-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.01100.01700.01-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.0112.50.02570.02-0.01-0.18
0.73-0.02150.03030.03-0.02-0.28
0.65-0.0217.50.03190.03-0.02-0.36
0.58-0.03200.03190.04-0.03-0.43
0.52-0.0322.50.03130.04-0.03-0.49
0.48-0.03250.03030.04-0.03-0.54
0.40-0.03300.02800.04-0.03-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51015202518K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53019K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 63K 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: CCXI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk