Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:58 AM ET

CHRD max pain

Spot (delayed)$158.13
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$140-11.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.3±9.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.18219 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3039.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$454Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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$140-11.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$125-21.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$140-11.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$110-30.4%145d
Thu, Jun 17$105-33.6%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot140100117134151168185$3M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot140100125140155170185605605
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHRD 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

spot140100125140155170185200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10011713415116818598%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 140100125140155170185+$286K−$286K
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
0.96-0.031250.00380.04-0.04-0.05
0.94-0.041300.00550.05-0.05-0.07
0.92-0.051350.00800.07-0.06-0.10
0.87-0.071400.01160.09-0.08-0.15
0.81-0.091450.01590.12-0.09-0.22
0.71-0.111500.02030.14-0.11-0.32
0.60-0.121550.02310.17-0.12-0.43
0.48-0.131600.02360.17-0.12-0.54
0.38-0.121650.02180.16-0.12-0.65
0.29-0.111700.01890.15-0.11-0.73
0.22-0.101750.01570.13-0.10-0.80
0.16-0.091800.01270.11-0.08-0.84
0.12-0.071850.01010.09-0.07-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901151401651906950
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

spot4575105135165195715715
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 2K 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: CHRD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk