Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:18 AM ET

CRCG max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.42
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$14+12.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.32±34.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.12958 puts / 853 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV30161.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$943per 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$14+12.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$13+4.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$18+44.9%145d
Fri, Apr 16$39+214.0%173d
Thu, Jun 17$7-43.6%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1451015192429$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 — 14 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145913172127213213
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CRCG 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

spot1459131721273535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51015192429242%126%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 160.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2061014182229+$2K−$2K
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
0.97-0.0150.00960.00-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0160.01560.00-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.0270.02390.01-0.02-0.08
0.88-0.0280.03410.01-0.02-0.12
0.83-0.0390.04510.01-0.03-0.17
0.76-0.03100.05520.01-0.03-0.24
0.69-0.04110.06320.01-0.04-0.31
0.62-0.04120.06840.01-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.04130.07090.01-0.04-0.45
0.49-0.04140.07110.01-0.04-0.51
0.43-0.04150.06960.01-0.04-0.57
0.38-0.04160.06680.01-0.04-0.63
0.33-0.04170.06330.01-0.04-0.67
0.29-0.04180.05930.01-0.04-0.71
0.25-0.03190.05510.01-0.03-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110182634502780
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

spot1917253345378378
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 3K 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: CRCG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk