Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 5:39 PM ET

CVS max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.56
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$90+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.03±6.8% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.453K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$94largest call OI
Put wall$87largest put OI
IV3039.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $91

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 6$90+1.6%4d
Fri, Nov 13$90+1.6%11d
Fri, Nov 20$92+3.9%18d
Fri, Nov 27$90+1.6%25d
Fri, Dec 4$92+3.9%32d
Fri, Dec 11$88-0.6%39d
Fri, Dec 18$87.5-1.2%46d
Fri, Jan 15$75-15.3%74d
Fri, Feb 19$90+1.6%109d
Fri, Mar 19$90+1.6%137d
Fri, May 21$87.5-1.2%200d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9060718293104115$15M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot90607987951031111K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot9060798795103111212212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot60718293104115152%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 9160798795103111+$426K−$426K
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.26820.03310.03-0.26-0.18
0.78-0.29830.03710.03-0.29-0.22
0.74-0.32840.04090.03-0.32-0.26
0.70-0.35850.04440.03-0.35-0.30
0.65-0.37860.04740.04-0.37-0.35
0.60-0.38870.04980.04-0.39-0.40
0.55-0.39880.05160.04-0.39-0.45
0.50-0.39890.05240.04-0.39-0.50
0.45-0.38900.05240.04-0.39-0.56
0.40-0.37910.05140.04-0.37-0.61
0.34-0.35920.04950.04-0.35-0.66
0.30-0.32930.04680.03-0.32-0.70
0.25-0.29940.04350.03-0.29-0.75
0.21-0.26950.03970.03-0.26-0.79
0.18-0.23960.03560.03-0.23-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5086931011101455K0
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

spot22.555788910011514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 152K call contracts, 147K 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: CVS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk