Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 2:52 AM ET

CIGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.28
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105+12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.45±9.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.08841 puts / 776 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3034.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$131Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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$105+12.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$70-25.0%58d
Fri, Feb 19$120+28.6%121d
Fri, May 21$70-25.0%212d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1056080100120140160$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1056085105125150659659
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIGI 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

spot10560851051251502828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6080100120140160145%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 756085100115135150+$109K−$109K
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
0.97-0.02600.00290.02-0.02-0.03
0.94-0.03700.00640.03-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.04750.00980.04-0.04-0.09
0.87-0.04800.01540.06-0.05-0.13
0.79-0.05850.02420.08-0.05-0.21
0.65-0.06900.03630.10-0.06-0.34
0.45-0.06950.04230.11-0.06-0.55
0.28-0.051000.03400.09-0.05-0.72
0.18-0.041050.02350.07-0.04-0.83
0.12-0.041100.01630.06-0.04-0.88
0.09-0.031150.01180.04-0.03-0.92
0.07-0.031200.00880.04-0.03-0.94
0.05-0.031250.00680.03-0.03-0.95
0.04-0.021350.00440.02-0.02-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901051201351506900
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

spot457095120145690690
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 961 call contracts, 1K 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: CIGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk