Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:36 AM ET

CW max pain

Spot (delayed)$494.19
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$550+11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.25±9.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.59434 puts / 739 calls
Call wall$550largest call OI
Put wall$610largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$164Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $550

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$550+11.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$610+23.4%58d
Fri, Mar 19$680+37.6%149d
Thu, Jun 17$530+7.2%239d
Fri, Dec 17$570+15.3%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5503304886468049621120$35M$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 — 550 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot550330420510600700900227227
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CW 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

spot55033042051060070090033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3304886468049621120142%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 550330410490570650780+$266K−$266K
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
0.89-0.204200.00260.26-0.21-0.11
0.86-0.234300.00320.31-0.24-0.14
0.83-0.274400.00380.36-0.28-0.17
0.79-0.304500.00450.41-0.31-0.21
0.74-0.334600.00520.46-0.34-0.26
0.69-0.354700.00580.50-0.36-0.31
0.63-0.374800.00630.54-0.38-0.38
0.56-0.394900.00670.56-0.39-0.44
0.49-0.395000.00680.56-0.39-0.51
0.43-0.385100.00670.56-0.38-0.58
0.36-0.365200.00650.53-0.36-0.64
0.31-0.345300.00600.50-0.34-0.70
0.26-0.315400.00550.46-0.31-0.75
0.21-0.285500.00490.41-0.28-0.80
0.17-0.255600.00430.37-0.26-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3404905806707609002270
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

spot2503905306708101000282282
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: CW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk