Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 3:46 AM ET

EFX max pain

Spot (delayed)$147.33
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$150+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.6±12.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI3.45983 puts / 285 calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$162Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$150+1.8%3d
Fri, Nov 20$150+1.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$175+18.8%66d
Fri, Jan 15$175+18.8%94d
Fri, Apr 16$155+5.2%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot150110132154176198220$2M$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot150110125140155170185444444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EFX 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

spot150110125140155170185123123
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11013215417619822075%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110125140155170185+$109K−$109K
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
0.95-0.031100.00350.05-0.03-0.04
0.93-0.041150.00500.06-0.04-0.07
0.90-0.051200.00680.09-0.06-0.10
0.86-0.071250.00900.11-0.07-0.14
0.80-0.081300.01130.13-0.09-0.20
0.74-0.101350.01350.16-0.10-0.26
0.66-0.111400.01540.18-0.11-0.34
0.58-0.121450.01670.19-0.12-0.42
0.49-0.121500.01720.19-0.12-0.51
0.41-0.121550.01680.19-0.12-0.59
0.34-0.111600.01580.18-0.11-0.67
0.27-0.101650.01420.16-0.10-0.74
0.21-0.091700.01240.14-0.09-0.80
0.17-0.071750.01050.12-0.07-0.84
0.13-0.061800.00880.10-0.06-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101401651902302802240
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

spot801151501852403102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 6K 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: EFX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk