Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:22 PM ET

CSX max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.31
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$50-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.2±4.3% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI0.39111 puts / 282 calls
Call wall$56largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3022.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$48Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $51

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$48-6.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$49.5-3.5%11d
Fri, Nov 13$50-2.6%18d
Fri, Nov 20$50-2.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$48-6.5%32d
Fri, Dec 4$46-10.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$37.5-26.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$40-22.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$50-2.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$47.5-7.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50353943485256$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot503546495256122122
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CSX open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot5035464952562121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot44464951545674%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spotflip 513546495256+$34K−$34K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01440.01830.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.01450.02440.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01460.03320.01-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.02470.04610.02-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.02480.06490.03-0.02-0.13
0.81-0.02490.09100.03-0.02-0.20
0.71-0.03500.12210.04-0.03-0.29
0.58-0.03510.14640.04-0.03-0.43
0.43-0.03520.14750.04-0.03-0.58
0.30-0.03530.12640.04-0.03-0.71
0.14-0.02550.07280.03-0.02-0.87
0.10-0.02560.05320.02-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30404648.551557010
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

spot153542.546.55157.517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 100K call contracts, 87K 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: CSX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk