Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 3:07 AM ET

CVX max pain

Spot (delayed)$202.75
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$200-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.58±9.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.227K puts / 32K calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3026.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $125
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 30usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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 25$210+3.6%2d
Fri, Oct 2$207.5+2.3%9d
Fri, Oct 9$210+3.6%16d
Fri, Oct 16$200-1.4%23d
Fri, Oct 23$205+1.1%30d
Fri, Oct 30$200-1.4%37d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 30)
Fri, Nov 20$200-1.4%58d
Fri, Dec 18$185-8.8%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20095134173212251290$197M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2009514016519023028012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVX 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

spot200951401651902302801K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9513417321225129090%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12595140165190230280+$5.2M$5.2M
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
0.96-0.011650.00350.07-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.021700.00490.10-0.03-0.07
0.91-0.031750.00670.13-0.04-0.11
0.87-0.041800.00900.18-0.05-0.15
0.82-0.051850.01150.21-0.06-0.21
0.75-0.061900.01400.25-0.06-0.28
0.68-0.071950.01620.28-0.07-0.35
0.59-0.072000.01770.31-0.07-0.44
0.41-0.072100.01800.31-0.07-0.62
0.25-0.062200.01490.25-0.05-0.77
0.14-0.042300.01030.18-0.04-0.87
0.08-0.032400.00640.12-0.02-0.93
0.04-0.022500.00400.08-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.012600.00260.05-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.012700.00170.04-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110185202.5217.5232.526014K0
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

spot70120170202.5227.526544K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 280K call contracts, 190K 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: CVX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk