Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 9, 9:10 PM ET

CEG max pain

Spot (delayed)$298.07
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$280-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$40.6±13.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.8725K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3047.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $340

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$285-4.4%4d
Fri, Oct 23$290-2.7%11d
Fri, Oct 30$270-9.4%18d
Fri, Nov 6$275-7.7%25d
Fri, Nov 13$290-2.7%32d
Fri, Nov 20$280-6.1%39d
Fri, Nov 27$270-9.4%46d
Fri, Dec 18$280-6.1%67d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280125196267338409480$260M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2801251652102903704507K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CEG 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

spot2801251652102903704501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot125196267338409480146%45%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 340160195260330400470+$2.5M−$2.5M
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
0.94-0.072300.00220.12-0.07-0.06
0.92-0.102400.00310.16-0.10-0.09
0.88-0.122500.00410.21-0.13-0.13
0.82-0.152600.00520.26-0.15-0.18
0.76-0.182700.00630.32-0.18-0.24
0.69-0.212800.00720.36-0.21-0.32
0.61-0.222900.00790.39-0.22-0.39
0.53-0.233000.00820.40-0.23-0.47
0.45-0.233100.00810.40-0.23-0.56
0.38-0.223200.00770.38-0.22-0.63
0.31-0.213300.00710.36-0.21-0.70
0.25-0.193400.00640.32-0.19-0.76
0.20-0.173500.00560.28-0.17-0.81
0.16-0.153600.00480.25-0.15-0.85
0.13-0.133700.00410.21-0.14-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160245267.52903153603K0
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

spot12519025030037050012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 137K 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: CEG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk