Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 3:29 AM ET

CMBT max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.35
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17.5+0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.73±9.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.21672 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3038.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$118Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$17.5+0.9%31d
Fri, Dec 18$20+15.3%59d
Fri, Jan 15$15-13.5%87d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5+0.9%122d
Fri, Mar 19$15-13.5%150d
Fri, May 21$10-42.4%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5101418222630$4M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.5101520252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMBT 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

spot17.5101520258585
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot101418222630136%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.510152025+$94K−$94K
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
0.99-0.00100.00650.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0012.50.02210.00-0.00-0.03
0.88-0.01150.08620.01-0.01-0.12
0.50-0.0117.50.20020.02-0.01-0.49
0.16-0.01200.10670.01-0.01-0.84
0.06-0.0122.50.04290.01-0.00-0.94
0.03-0.00250.01930.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.00300.00540.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5101520253K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 6K 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: CMBT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk