Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 11:44 PM ET

CNK max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.92
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$38-4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.8±9.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.083K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$44largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3043.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$37Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $34

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$38-4.8%30d
Fri, Dec 18$34-14.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$27-32.4%86d
Fri, Mar 19$35-12.3%149d
Thu, Jun 17$40+0.2%239d
Fri, Jan 21$25-37.4%457d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38273236414550$2M$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 — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3827323640442K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNK 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

spot3827323640442020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot273236414550138%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 342732364044+$181K−$181K
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
0.92-0.01330.02580.02-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.02340.03290.02-0.02-0.11
0.85-0.02350.04130.03-0.02-0.15
0.81-0.02360.05070.03-0.02-0.19
0.75-0.03370.06020.04-0.03-0.25
0.69-0.03380.06880.04-0.03-0.32
0.61-0.03390.07530.04-0.03-0.39
0.53-0.03400.07860.05-0.03-0.47
0.46-0.03410.07850.05-0.03-0.55
0.38-0.03420.07520.04-0.03-0.62
0.32-0.03430.06950.04-0.03-0.69
0.26-0.03440.06240.04-0.03-0.75
0.21-0.03450.05470.03-0.03-0.80
0.07-0.01500.02380.02-0.01-0.94

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

spot1527323742472K0
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

spot1523293541472K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K 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: CNK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk