Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 20, 2:42 AM ET

CIGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.73
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$115+4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.75±11.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.70633 puts / 372 calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3028.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$105-4.3%1d
Fri, Sep 18$105-4.3%29d
Fri, Nov 20$115+4.8%92d
Fri, Feb 19$105-4.3%183d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1156080100120140160$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot115608095110125150347347
■ 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

spot11560809511012515011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot759210912614316073%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 75608095110125150+$90K$90K
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
0.95-0.00750.00370.06-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.01800.00510.07-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.01850.00690.09-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.02900.00950.12-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02950.01290.14-0.03-0.17
0.76-0.031000.01720.17-0.03-0.24
0.67-0.031050.02170.20-0.03-0.34
0.55-0.031100.02480.22-0.03-0.46
0.43-0.031150.02470.22-0.03-0.59
0.33-0.031200.02190.20-0.03-0.70
0.25-0.031250.01830.18-0.03-0.78
0.15-0.021350.01220.13-0.02-0.88
0.11-0.021450.00840.10-0.01-0.93
0.09-0.021500.00710.09-0.01-0.95
0.08-0.021550.00600.08-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60901051201351559030
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

spot5080110140170200903903
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K 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: CIGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk