Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:26 AM ET

CPB max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.7
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$20-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.95±4.6% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.713K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$18.5largest call OI
Put wall$21largest put OI
IV3032.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$59Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$20-3.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$20-3.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$19.5-5.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$20-3.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$20-3.4%32d
Fri, Dec 4$21+1.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$22+6.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$24+15.9%81d
Fri, Feb 19$22+6.3%116d
Fri, Mar 19$23+11.1%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20131619232629$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot2013182022242K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CPB open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot2013182022244K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot171922242729138%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 18.5161819.52122.524+$292K−$292K
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01170.02260.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0117.50.03260.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01180.04800.00-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0118.50.07290.00-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01190.11400.00-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.0219.50.18320.01-0.02-0.13
0.78-0.02200.29380.01-0.02-0.23
0.61-0.0320.50.41900.01-0.03-0.39
0.40-0.03210.42310.01-0.03-0.61
0.23-0.0221.50.30710.01-0.02-0.77
0.14-0.02220.20180.01-0.02-0.86
0.10-0.0122.50.13380.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01230.09170.00-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.0123.50.06510.00-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01240.04770.00-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1318.52021.52324.51K0
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

spot10162024294519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 95K call contracts, 73K 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: CPB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk