Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 11:14 PM ET

DLO max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.2
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$13-8.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.4±16.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.155K puts / 32K calls
Call wall$16largest call OI
Put wall$13largest put OI
IV3037.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$683Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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, Oct 16$14-1.4%27d
Fri, Nov 20$13-8.5%62d
Fri, Dec 18$12-15.5%90d
Fri, Jan 15$9.47-33.3%118d
Fri, Feb 19$13-8.5%153d
Fri, May 21$11-22.5%244d
Fri, Dec 17$10-29.6%454d
Fri, Jan 21$12-15.5%489d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot132711162025$28M$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1327111519238K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DLO 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

spot132711151923400400
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2711162025179%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 44812162025+$230K$230K
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
0.98-0.0070.01010.00-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.0080.01520.01-0.00-0.04
0.96-0.0090.02310.01-0.00-0.05
0.93-0.00100.03570.01-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.01110.05500.01-0.01-0.12
0.83-0.01120.08260.02-0.01-0.18
0.73-0.01130.11510.02-0.01-0.28
0.60-0.01140.14070.02-0.01-0.42
0.46-0.01150.14630.02-0.01-0.56
0.33-0.01160.13210.02-0.01-0.70
0.23-0.01170.10860.02-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.01180.08460.01-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.00190.06400.01-0.01-0.94
0.08-0.00200.04780.01-0.00-0.97
0.06-0.00210.03550.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot271115192371K0
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

spot161116213075K75K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 201K call contracts, 26K 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: DLO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk