Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 3:48 AM ET

CSCO max pain

Spot (delayed)$110.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$110-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.55±10.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.7737K puts / 48K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3046.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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, Oct 30$108-2.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$108-2.3%10d
Fri, Nov 13$110-0.5%17d
Fri, Nov 20$110-0.5%24d
Fri, Nov 27$109-1.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$95-14.0%38d
Fri, Dec 18$100-9.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$95-14.0%80d
Fri, Mar 19$105-5.0%143d
Fri, Apr 16$110-0.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1106085110135160185$304M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110609610411212015010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSCO 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

spot11060961041121201502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot608511013516018596%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1206096104112120150+$2.6M−$2.6M
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
0.72-0.101030.02260.10-0.10-0.28
0.70-0.101040.02350.10-0.10-0.30
0.68-0.101050.02440.10-0.11-0.33
0.65-0.111060.02520.11-0.11-0.35
0.62-0.111070.02590.11-0.11-0.38
0.60-0.111080.02650.11-0.11-0.41
0.57-0.111090.02700.11-0.11-0.43
0.54-0.111100.02730.12-0.12-0.46
0.51-0.111110.02750.12-0.12-0.49
0.49-0.111120.02760.12-0.12-0.52
0.46-0.111130.02750.12-0.11-0.54
0.43-0.111140.02730.11-0.11-0.57
0.41-0.111150.02700.11-0.11-0.60
0.38-0.111160.02660.11-0.11-0.62
0.35-0.101170.02610.11-0.11-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70991071151231312K0
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

spot37.562.582.510112516541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 425K call contracts, 382K 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: CSCO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk