Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:14 PM ET

DKNG max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.58
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$20-2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.11±5.4% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.3510K puts / 29K calls
Call wall$21largest call OI
Put wall$20.5largest put OI
IV3064.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$20-2.8%3d
Fri, Nov 6$20-2.8%10d
Fri, Nov 13$19-7.7%17d
Fri, Nov 20$20-2.8%24d
Fri, Nov 27$20-2.8%31d
Fri, Dec 4$18-12.5%38d
Fri, Dec 18$25+21.5%52d
Fri, Jan 15$25+21.5%80d
Fri, Feb 19$20-2.8%115d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-15.0%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20101520253035$39M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot201016192225319K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DKNG open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot20101619222531271271
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot131721252933273%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 13121720232734+$1.1M−$1.1M
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, Oct 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01170.02510.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0117.50.03430.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01180.05050.00-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0218.50.08190.00-0.02-0.06
0.89-0.04190.13480.00-0.04-0.11
0.81-0.0619.50.20180.01-0.06-0.20
0.69-0.08200.26320.01-0.08-0.32
0.54-0.0920.50.29680.01-0.09-0.46
0.40-0.08210.28940.01-0.09-0.61
0.27-0.0721.50.24590.01-0.07-0.74
0.17-0.05220.18500.01-0.05-0.84
0.10-0.0322.50.12680.00-0.03-0.91
0.06-0.02230.08240.00-0.02-0.95
0.04-0.0123.50.05260.00-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.01240.03360.00-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1016.52023.5273410K0
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

spot7.516.52227.537.555175K175K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 743K call contracts, 226K 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: DKNG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk