Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:11 PM ET

DDOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$282.2
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$240-15.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$50.38±17.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9411K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3079.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $300

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$265-6.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$270-4.3%11d
Fri, Nov 13$290+2.8%18d
Fri, Nov 20$240-15.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$260-7.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$270-4.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$170-39.8%53d
Fri, Jan 15$175-38.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$230-18.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$260-7.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot24080148216284352420$155M$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot240801501902503204003K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DDOG 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

spot24080150190250320400378378
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot80148216284352420290%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 85.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 300120160195250310380+$781K−$781K
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
0.84-0.302300.00370.18-0.31-0.16
0.82-0.332350.00400.19-0.33-0.18
0.80-0.352400.00440.21-0.36-0.20
0.74-0.402500.00500.24-0.41-0.26
0.69-0.452600.00560.26-0.45-0.31
0.62-0.472700.00600.28-0.48-0.38
0.59-0.482750.00610.29-0.49-0.41
0.56-0.492800.00620.29-0.49-0.44
0.50-0.502900.00630.29-0.50-0.50
0.44-0.493000.00630.29-0.49-0.56
0.38-0.473100.00610.28-0.47-0.62
0.33-0.443200.00580.27-0.44-0.68
0.27-0.403300.00540.25-0.40-0.73
0.23-0.363400.00500.22-0.36-0.77
0.19-0.323500.00440.20-0.32-0.81

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

spot150220257.5280302.53308730
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

spot5511516523027535011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 106K call contracts, 101K 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: DDOG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk