Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 4:43 AM ET

DTIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$7.5+21.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.75±60.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.2719 puts / 15 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV30154.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$37per 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 16$7.5+21.6%today
Fri, Nov 20$7.5+21.6%35d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5+21.6%63d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5-59.5%91d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5-59.5%126d
Fri, May 21$5-19.0%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.5579111315$1M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7.557.51012.5151313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DTIL 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

spot7.557.51012.51511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot579111315517%131%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 210.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.557.51012.515+$58−$58
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
0.76-0.0150.10090.01-0.01-0.25
0.47-0.027.50.12590.01-0.02-0.55
0.33-0.02100.09580.01-0.02-0.69
0.26-0.0212.50.07600.01-0.02-0.76
0.22-0.02150.06350.01-0.02-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot57.51012.5152030
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

spot2.57.512.517.5729729
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 138 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: DTIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk