Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:54 AM ET

COMP max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.69
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$9-7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.75±18.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9421K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3069.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$155Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $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$9-7.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$9-7.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$7-27.8%80d
Fri, Feb 19$10+3.2%115d
Fri, May 21$9-7.1%206d
Fri, Jan 21$7-27.8%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot91611152025$29M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9159131717K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COMP 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

spot91591317500500
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4812172125257%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 51591317+$122K−$122K
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
0.99-0.0030.00600.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0040.01080.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0150.01910.00-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0160.03390.00-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0170.06170.00-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.0180.11330.01-0.01-0.17
0.69-0.0190.18910.01-0.01-0.31
0.48-0.01100.22340.01-0.01-0.53
0.30-0.01110.18320.01-0.01-0.71
0.19-0.01120.13220.01-0.01-0.82
0.13-0.01130.09420.01-0.01-0.88
0.09-0.01140.06830.00-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01150.05070.00-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.01160.03840.00-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.00170.02970.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15913172522K0
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

spot15913172530K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 81K call contracts, 41K 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: COMP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk