Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 2:54 AM ET

CF max pain

Spot (delayed)$117.25
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.8±11.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.048K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3046.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$449Kper 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 16$122+4.1%2d
Fri, Oct 23$116-1.1%9d
Fri, Oct 30$115-1.9%16d
Fri, Nov 6$115-1.9%23d
Fri, Nov 13$115-1.9%30d
Fri, Nov 20$120+2.3%37d
Fri, Nov 27$116-1.1%44d
Fri, Dec 18$115-1.9%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206088116144172200$48M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12060851101351601854K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CF 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

spot1206085110135160185321321
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6088116144172200119%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6085110135160185+$819K−$819K
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
0.98-0.01800.00180.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01850.00300.02-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.02900.00490.04-0.03-0.05
0.92-0.03950.00780.06-0.04-0.09
0.87-0.051000.01170.08-0.05-0.14
0.80-0.061050.01640.10-0.07-0.21
0.70-0.081100.02060.13-0.08-0.31
0.59-0.091150.02320.14-0.09-0.42
0.47-0.091200.02360.15-0.09-0.54
0.36-0.091250.02190.14-0.08-0.64
0.27-0.081300.01900.13-0.07-0.73
0.20-0.071350.01570.11-0.06-0.80
0.15-0.061400.01260.09-0.05-0.85
0.11-0.041450.00990.07-0.04-0.89
0.08-0.041500.00760.06-0.03-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100115124133142157.51K0
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

spot508097.51181301659K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 53K call contracts, 38K 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: CF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk