Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:37 AM ET

CEVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.88
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$30+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.65±25.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.402K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3070.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$14Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedMon, Nov 9usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$30+0.4%25d
Fri, Nov 20$30+0.4%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Mon, Nov 9)
Fri, Dec 18$30+0.4%88d
Fri, Mar 19$30+0.4%179d
Fri, Jan 21$15-49.8%487d
Fri, Jan 19$40+33.9%851d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152637485970$4M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot301522.5355065768768
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CEVA 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

spot301522.535506566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152637485970102%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1522.5355065+$19K$19K
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
0.97-0.01150.00480.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0117.50.00880.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01200.01460.02-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.0222.50.02190.03-0.02-0.14
0.78-0.02250.02960.04-0.02-0.22
0.58-0.03300.03980.05-0.03-0.42
0.40-0.03350.03900.05-0.03-0.61
0.26-0.03400.03200.04-0.03-0.75
0.17-0.02450.02420.03-0.02-0.84
0.12-0.02500.01790.02-0.02-0.90
0.08-0.01550.01310.02-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.01600.00980.01-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01650.00730.01-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12.5203045601K0
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

spot12.5203045602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: CEVA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk