Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 1:01 AM ET

CNDT max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.41
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$1.5+6.4% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 84 calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
IV30117.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$97per 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, Nov 20$1.5+6.4%34d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5+6.4%90d
Fri, Apr 16$1.5+6.4%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5222233$1M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1.51.5237777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNDT 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

spot1.51.52399
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1.523+$89−$89
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
0.47-0.001.51.01170.00-0.00-0.54
0.21-0.0020.58320.00-0.00-0.81
0.10-0.0030.25590.00-0.00-0.91

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

spot0.51.5353K0
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

spot0.51.5353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 197 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: CNDT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk