Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 2:51 AM ET

CHTR max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120+8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.25±17.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.0411K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3076.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$732Kper 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 23$111+0.5%2d
Fri, Oct 30$112+1.4%9d
Fri, Nov 6$111+0.5%16d
Fri, Nov 13$120+8.6%23d
Fri, Nov 20$120+8.6%30d
Fri, Nov 27$110-0.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$135+22.2%58d
Fri, Jan 15$150+35.7%86d
Fri, Mar 19$120+8.6%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12065122179236293350$199M$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

spot120651021231602103104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHTR 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

spot120651021231602103108989
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot65122179236293350172%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot65100110130165200+$594K−$594K
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
0.71-0.141000.01380.11-0.14-0.29
0.69-0.141010.01410.11-0.14-0.31
0.68-0.141020.01440.12-0.14-0.32
0.67-0.141030.01470.12-0.15-0.34
0.65-0.151040.01500.12-0.15-0.35
0.63-0.151050.01530.12-0.15-0.37
0.57-0.151090.01600.13-0.16-0.43
0.55-0.151100.01620.13-0.16-0.45
0.47-0.151150.01630.13-0.16-0.53
0.41-0.151190.01600.13-0.15-0.59
0.40-0.151200.01590.12-0.15-0.61
0.35-0.141230.01530.12-0.14-0.65
0.34-0.141240.01510.12-0.14-0.66
0.33-0.141250.01490.12-0.14-0.68
0.27-0.131300.01350.10-0.13-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851061181301462002K0
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

spot5510314019028042022K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 150K call contracts, 60K 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: CHTR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk