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

CR max pain

Spot (delayed)$201.82
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$170-15.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.5±12.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.2753 puts / 200 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$46Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Sep 18$210+4.1%6d
Fri, Oct 16$200-0.9%34d
Fri, Nov 20$170-15.8%69d
Fri, Dec 18$195-3.4%97d
Fri, Mar 19$140-30.6%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot170100144188232276320$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1701001251551902303006767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CR 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

spot17010012515519023030011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10014418823227632096%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 200100125165200260320+$21K$21K
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
0.91-0.051550.00360.14-0.05-0.09
0.89-0.051600.00430.16-0.05-0.10
0.87-0.061650.00510.18-0.06-0.13
0.85-0.061700.00610.21-0.06-0.15
0.78-0.071800.00830.26-0.07-0.22
0.69-0.081900.01070.31-0.08-0.31
0.63-0.091950.01180.33-0.09-0.37
0.57-0.092000.01250.35-0.09-0.43
0.44-0.092100.01290.35-0.09-0.56
0.33-0.082200.01170.32-0.08-0.68
0.24-0.072300.00980.28-0.07-0.77
0.18-0.062400.00780.23-0.07-0.84
0.10-0.042600.00480.16-0.05-0.93
0.08-0.042700.00380.13-0.04-0.95
0.05-0.032900.00250.09-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051601852202703201310
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

spot100130160190240300882882
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: CR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk