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

CDNA max pain

Spot (delayed)$69.42
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$45-35.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.7±18.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.887K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3085.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$45-35.2%26d
Fri, Dec 18$70+0.8%54d
Fri, Feb 19$50-28.0%117d
Fri, Mar 19$45-35.2%145d
Fri, May 21$35-49.6%208d
Fri, Nov 19$60-13.6%390d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot451330486583100$23M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4512.522.54060801007K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CDNA 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

spot4512.522.54060801001010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1532496683100314%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 451530507090+$186K−$186K
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
0.98-0.02350.00190.01-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.03400.00330.01-0.03-0.03
0.94-0.04450.00550.02-0.04-0.06
0.90-0.06500.00880.03-0.06-0.10
0.84-0.08550.01300.05-0.08-0.16
0.76-0.10600.01760.06-0.10-0.24
0.65-0.11650.02160.07-0.11-0.35
0.54-0.12700.02360.08-0.12-0.47
0.42-0.12750.02330.07-0.12-0.58
0.33-0.11800.02120.07-0.11-0.68
0.25-0.10850.01830.06-0.10-0.76
0.19-0.09900.01530.05-0.09-0.81
0.15-0.07950.01260.04-0.08-0.86
0.12-0.061000.01030.04-0.07-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.5254565851K0
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

spot2.5153055801057K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 8K 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: CDNA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk